Whipped Banana-Chocolate "Ice-cream"

Who knew one could make something taste like ice-cream with just bananas? I heard someone talk about it a while back, but remained skeptical. Then, when I heard one of my friends mention that she often resorts to whipped banana as a substitute for ice-cream when she craves for something sweet, I decided to experiment. It is as simple as this - frozen banana chunks are thrown into a food processor/blender and pulsed/ground/whipped until the whole thing "magically" churns into ice-cream like consistency! I was apprehensive of putting my old blender to the task of whipping frozen bananas, but the old thing didn't let me down! If you have a food processor or a heavy-duty blender/mixer, be assured of having banana ice-cream any time!

 

Ingredients (serves two)

1. 2 ripe (but not overly ripe) bananas
2. 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup (optional)
3. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 
4. 2 teaspoons (or more) cocoa powder

Preparation

1. Peel and dice the bananas into thin discs. Put them in a plastic bag and freeze for 4 hours or  until they are completely frozen
2. Throw the frozen chunks (in parts or whole, depending on the power of your food processor/blender) into the blender. Pulse a couple times to break down the chunks. Then blend/grind/use the ice-breaker setting to start grinding and churning the chunks. If the blender struggles, pause and turn the mixture around with a spoon and then continue. If the chunks are too hard, it helps to wait a couple of minutes (to slightly melt the chunks) and then resume grinding. Or worst case, drizzle in some milk (very little and slowly) to get things going. But despite all the initial noise and resistance the blender seems to be throwing at you, worry not, keep at it, and within a couple of minutes the whole thing will churn to the consistency of whipped butter. When you see this phase approaching, drizzle in the honey/maple syrup, vanilla essence and cocoa powder. Give the whole thing a couple of extra whirs to incorporate everything. Do not over-whip or grind, because the whole thing will begin to melt in the heat.

That's it. Scoop out the whipped frozen-bananas and serve/eat immediately. It really really does taste like banana ice-cream! It tastes more like soft-serve ice-cream, though. I personally like my ice-cream to be soft than hard and cold, so it works for me! Plus, I can adjust the flavorings to my choice to result in an easy dessert that is surprisingly low in fat and sugar, but tastes great!

Stack up on some flavorings and you have a versatile recipe to whip up a fake ice-cream anytime!