Banana "ice cream"

Last Friday after looking undesirably at my to do list, I figured that my time would be better spent in the kitchen. I cleaned out the refrigerator, made chocolate chip cookies, and looked around for something else to do. I eyed the four remaining bananas and thought that I would try the banana "ice cream" recipe that I see on Pinterest so frequently.  Bonus that I get to use the new Ninja, yet again.

I'm not usually a fan of "mock" recipes. I don't mind swapping ingredients like vegetable oil for healthier options like coconut oil, but I still like my ice cream to be ice cream and cake to be cake, etc. I really didn't have high hopes for this "ice cream", but figured that it couldn't hurt to try.

The recipe is easy enough. The ingredients are four bananas, two tablespoons peanut butter, and two teaspoons cocoa powder. Pretty much the only part that takes any kind of work is slicing and freezing the bananas (single layer) for at least an hour. I usually freeze bananas whole once they are about to turn for muffins, bread, etc. I think that I am going to start slicing and freezing them in the future, though.

Anyway, once the bananas are frozen, combine with the peanut butter and cocoa powder and blend until smooth. I originally tried to use the single serve cup on the Ninja, but found that it was too much density and too little liquid. I had to use the larger blender attachment and the process went quickly after I switched. I had to pulse a few times to make sure that all of the lumps were out of the bananas. The final result was a texture very much like soft serve ice cream.

I put the finished product back into the freezer and saved until the boys were finished with dinner. Collin ate a ton during dinner and didn't have much interest in dessert. William ate two bowls of the "ice cream", though, and I know that he would have eaten more. It definitely wasn't ice cream, but it was still so good!

This is one of my favorite Pinterest recipes that I made to date. I feel like it really is no fail and I enjoyed it along with my kids. I also felt good about giving that to them as dessert. I think that it would be excellent with a few chocolate chips added.  The recipe as written above makes about four servings. I hope that your family enjoys it as much as we do!

Original recipe from: userealbutter.com