Hello! It feels good to be back. And it’s nice to have you. (If you’re here just for the recipe, feel free to scroll. You shouldn’t have to scroll too far.) I hope you’re doing well and taking your health and the health of others seriously. Nonetheless, thanks to the slower pace, I’ve gotten a chance to explore my own kitchen again and try some things on my to do list. The banana ice/ice cream/sorbet/soft serve is nothing new. But I’ve been breaking in my Vitamix and finally had the chance to try my own batch of the frozen treat. The recipe’s unbelievably (ok you might believe it) easy and customizable.

Ingredients

• BANANAS!!
• Whatever else you want.

1. Peel and cut bananas. The smaller the banana pieces, the easier it is to “cream them.”, though mine were halves and quarters and it blended just fine in the Vitamix.
2. Freeze the peeled bananas (at least 4 hours).
3. Once frozen, add the bananas to the blender and blend on low speed for about 5 seconds (once all the pieces are moving in a fluid motion) then crank the speed just until the bananas smooth- not runny. This took about 30-40 seconds in the Vitamix. The longer you blend, the bananas will melt and the better your chances of ending up with baby food. If you want to add any flavorings (I added a splash of vanilla extract), here’s your chance.
4. You can eat it now for a cool, almost pudding like dessert. If you want to add any mix-ins, now’s a good time. Otherwise, slide the puree into a container and freeze for another two hours.

Technically, I guess this would be sorbet. It’s not actually ice cream- you knew that- but I can be happy with the bananas, granted I like bananas.  A mentioned above I added vanilla to mine and ate the banana cream while it lasted a number of ways. As shown in the picture, It’s got hot chocolate mix on the bottom, served with blueberries and topped with peanuts and toffee pieces. I’ll list these and other ideas below:

Flavors:

• Vanilla
• Chocolate
  Peanut butter
  Espresso

Mix-ins:
Nuts
Toffee pieces
Ginger (fresh, pickled, crystalized)
Coarse salt
Strawberry

You could also mix it with other fruits and go for more of a creamy sorbet. Mango (and even avocado) lends very well to the creamy texture.

Let me know how it turns out. Tried it already? What did you add?