Step By Step: How To Make Nice Cream | Paleo + Gluten Free + Vegan
I can't even right now. So good it almost makes me want to sing a Neil Diamond song if I didn't despise him.
I woke up this morning with this recipe in my head. And it's not just any plain old banana nice cream, y'all. It's new and improved and awesomer. But, first we need to talk about nice cream - do you even know of what I speak? Because you need to. And hopefully after this little conversation you'll walk away a better person.
Nice cream is what happens when you freeze bananas and then put them in a food processor and the magical dessert fairies sprinkle whatever they sprinkle and it turns into basically, ice cream.
WHAT? But how can this be? There needs to be like 800 ingredients and an awkwardly big appliance to make ice cream, no?
Nuh uh.
So listen up and listen good. Because this is AMAZEBALLS!
In preparation for this, you need to have four frozen (overnight) very ripe bananas and a can of coconut cream or full fat coconut milk (see notes below). In fact, you should always have frozen bananas in the freezer because hello, smoothies. Whenever my bananas are getting too ripe, I break them in half and throw them into a big freezer bag. It's like a graveyard of broken bananas in there.
Now that you understand you need to have a thousand frozen bananas at all times, we can move on.
First we're going to make the strawberry sauce so it can chill, baby. You're going to take a heaping cup of strawberries. Fresh or frozen. If you're the kind of person who has fresh strawberries just laying around in abundance, well then, aren't you cool. But I don't. So I used frozen (do not be misled by above picture).
Dump 1 heaping cup of strawberries in a pot and turn on the lowest setting.
Once they are softened, transfer to a food processor. QUICK NOTE: To make the nice cream, you're going to need a food processor. Mine was under $30 and works very well —plus you can use it for shredding and slicing veggies. This WILL NOT WORK IN A BLENDER. You'll end up with tiny ice chunks of bananas stuck to the sides, instead of creamy wonderfulness.
Add 1 teaspoon of maple syrup (can sub honey or any kind of liquid sweetener you prefer) and blend. You will not need more sugar than this because the nice cream is very sweet. And you'll end up with a nice puree. Stick that in the freezer til chilled.
Now we're going to take out those four frozen bananas, slice em into coins and put those in the food processor.
STOP RIGHT THERE!!! Now if this were an ordinary, boring banana nice cream recipe than you would just blend those puppies. But it's NOT. Remember how I said it was awesomer? Well, I've never lied to you and I'm not about to start.
Add 1/2 cup chilled coconut cream. THIS MUST BE COCONUT CREAM, NOT MILK! Was that caps yelly enough? Because I'm quite serious. It WILL NOT WORK WITH MILK. It will ruin everything and make it runny. Unless you're the kind of person that likes runny ice cream. And if you are, we can't be friends.
{Coconut cream can be purchased in a can, clearly labeled COCONUT CREAM. Alternatively, you can use a can of full fat (classic) coconut milk and just use the top part (bottom half will be milky). Thai Kitchen is consistently creamy —but a good way to check is to shake the can and it should feel solid.}
This is how it should look when you open the can. It needs to be a hard texture, not runny at all.
So add that coconut cream to the frozen bananas and process (and don't let the 1/4 c confuse you - use 1/2 cup).
Process until smooth. Stop and remove lid to scrape down sides.
You'll be left with a texture something like this. And I highly advise you against tasting it at this point, because if you do, you won't make it til the end of the recipe. It literally tastes like banana cream pie. In ice cream form.
At this point, if you want it "harder" go ahead and freeze for a bit, if not, then you're ready to top with the strawberry sauce. If you want to live a mediocre life, then don't add pistachios. But, you can see my opinion on that matter.
BANANA COCONUT NICE CREAM WITH STRAWBERRY SAUCE
(Makes two servings, with leftover sauce)
Sauce:
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 tsp maple syrup or honey
Soften berries in a pot on the lowest setting, to release juices. Then add to food processor with sweetener and blend until smooth. Set aside and chill.
Nice Cream:
Four frozen bananas, sliced into coins
1/2 c coconut cream (see notes above)
Blend together in food processor until smooth. Can freeze for awhile til desired hardness. Top with strawberry sauce and pistachios!
Wondering who's the mysterious wordy genius behind these posts? Follow this little rabbit trail to read more About Me! The use of the term genius is open to interpretation.
