Banana Ice Cream Trio: Chocolate Hazelnut, Vanilla & Golden Spiced Mango

Ice cream that's healthy? Yes please!

Have you tried making banana nicecream before? If not, you definitely need to!

It's so crazy simple to make, and it's dairy free, vegan, low fat, wholesome, and just down right delicious.

My go-to flavour is always chocolate, because.. chocolate, right? I also like to get a little fancy sometimes though and make a few different flavours at once.

This time I made a dark and creamy chocolate hazelnut, a classic vanilla, and a turmeric chai spiced mango sorbet.

So what exactly is banana nice cream? It simply involves taking frozen bananas, and blending them until they're smooth and creamy - just like a soft serve. Yep, that's it.

You can keep it super simple, just by perhaps adding some vanilla or some cacao/cocoa powder, or get creative! Things you can think about adding are:

• For extra creaminess: Cashew, almond or peanut butter, tahini, coconut cream, plant milks or any of your favourite nuts & seeds
• Fruits: berries, kiwi fruit, stone fruits, papaya, mango, dragon fruit..
• Wholesome powders & spices: cacao, cinnamon, vanilla, chai spices, matcha, maca, mesquite (for a caramel flavour), spirulina, beet powder etc
• Fun add ins: chocolate chips, cacao nibs, dates, fresh mint, cookie/brownie chunks or chopped nuts (stir these through at end).

The only thing to remember is that if you add too many ingredients, and too much liquid, it'll end up as more of a smoothie than as ice cream (which would luckily still be delicious).

The trick I've found for getting the nice cream to blend without adding too much liquid is to wait for the frozen banana to defrost for a few minutes first. It's also good to cut the bananas into pieces before freezing them.

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How to make healthy vegan banana ice cream

Step 1 - Freeze Your Bananas

Peel bananas, cut them into chunks and then place them in a container in the freezer. Make sure the bananas you use are ripe, or else they won't taste as good! In fact, banana ice cream is a great way to use up bananas that are overly brown and ripe. (At my place, there's nearly always a stash of frozen bananas in the freezer).

Allow the bananas to freeze fully (it's useful to freeze them the day or night before you want them).

Step 2 - Blend Your Base

Place your frozen bananas in a high speed blender or food processor, and firstly leave them for a few minutes to defrost a little (this will help the ice cream to blend without having to add too much liquid).

Once they've softened, blend away! You may need to stop the machine a few times to scrape down the sides. Add a splash of plant milk if you need to, but not too much!

Step 3 - Create Your Flavours

You can choose to make all three of the flavours as I did, or just pick one of them.

If you're making multiple flavours, I find the simplest way is to blend all of the bananas first, then divide them into 3 separate portions for the different flavours; adding each portion back to your mixer to blend with their other ingredients.

You'll want about 2-3 bananas per flavour (or more if you're making it for several people, or if you want to keep a batch in the freezer). This quantity should serve 3 or 4 people.

For simplicity, below I've listed the banana portions separately for each flavour, but the way I would make it would be to:

HOW TO MAKE YOUR FLAVOURS

1.  Blend 6-8 frozen bananas with vanilla, optional cinnamon and soaked cashews, and a splash of plant milk for your vanilla base flavour.

2. Place a third of the ice cream in a shallow glass container or bowl in the freezer (this is your vanilla flavour).

3. Set aside another third of the ice cream in a different dish (for the golden spiced mango sorbet).

4. With the third remaining in your mixer, add the cacao and half of the hazelnuts. Blend until combined, then stir through or briefly pulse the remaining chopped hazelnuts. Set aside in freezer.

5. Rinse your blender or food processor if necessary, then add all ingredients for the golden spiced mango flavour and blend.

6. Serve this flavour along with the 2 others immediately, or place all of them in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up a little.

7. To garnish (optional): chopped pistachios with mango flavour, extra chopped hazelnuts with chocolate flavour, and dried coconut shards with vanilla flavour. Serve all in a bowl, parfait glass (or teacup!) with some fresh fruit.

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Vanilla Ice Cream

• 2-3 frozen bananas
• Vanilla beans or essence
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Splash plant milk, and/or a small handful of soaked cashews for extra creaminess. (Soak for 1-2 hours, or for 10 mins in warm water).

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Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream

• 2-3 frozen bananas
• 3 tbs cacao powder
• Vanilla to preference
• Splash plant milk, and/or a small handful of soaked cashews for extra creaminess. (Soak for 1-2 hours, or for 10 mins in warm water).

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Golden Spiced Mango Ice Cream

• 2 frozen bananas
• 1 cup frozen mango chunks
• 1 tsp turmeric (dried or fresh & grated)
• 1 tsp ginger (dried or fresh & grated)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp each of cardamom, nutmeg & cloves
• A few cracks of ground black pepper
• Splash plant milk, and/or a small handful of soaked cashews for extra creaminess. (Soak for 1-2 hours, or for 10 mins in warm water).

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What are your favourite banana ice cream flavours? If you try these ones out let me know in the comments below or on Instagram. Enjoy, friends!