With our heat wave finally receding I had a lot of bananas ripening too fast on the counter. Whenever this happens I peel, slice and freeze them for latter, since I often add them to my morning frappes. My mind was wandering a bit and I went back into my blog archives for the banana ‘ice cream’ recipes I had published last summer – the classic frozen bananas into frozen soft serve. I took the basic method for prepping it, and swapped out the ingredients, especially so that Alistaire could enjoy some as well. I used to make it with peanut butter but not anymore, with his allergies. Last week while Kirk was on a business trip, Alistaire got into the garbage can, found a fortune cookie wrapper and rubbed it on his lips. He had a reaction to whatever was in it and had lip swelling. Ugh. As he gets older, and wants to eat more, it gets harder. I don’t feel overly frustrated though, more that I have a project on my hands – and a new way of eating yet again.
And here is the thing: I am finding I prefer sunflower butter over peanut butter. It has a mild, pleasant flavor and just isn’t as “heavy” in recipes. With Alistaire having allergies to both peanuts and eggs, his chance of eating dairy ice cream is pretty low, unless I make it from scratch (which I enjoy doing). I am avoiding my favorite almond and coconut ice creams until his allergy testing is fully done – no reason to tempt fate I’d say! And Walker loves a bowl of ‘ice cream’, not knowing it isn’t. If anything, Walker enjoys it more than the real stuff!
Sunflower Chocolate Chip ‘Ice Cream’
Ingredients:
- 5 medium bananas, very ripe
- ¼ cup sunflower butter
- ¼ cup raw honey
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Peel bananas, slice and freeze for at least a few hours.
Add frozen bananas to a food processor. Run on high, scraping sides as needed, until bananas go from crumbly to smooth. Stop and scrape sides add in sunflower butter, honey and cinnamon, pulse until mixed in, scraping as needed. Add in chocolate chips as desired (I used about ½ cup), pulse in. Scrape into a large glass freezer-safe dish, cover tightly and freeze for a few hours.
Store tightly sealed in the freezer (note, use the freezer in your frig, not a deep freezer).
Notes:
This is amazing tasting added to smoothies, milk shakes and frappes, a good scoop added with the ice. Yum! I find it stores well in the freezer, even for days after making. Get a big batch and enjoy your “hard” work for a number of servings.
If you must, use raw agave nectar instead of the honey.
~Sarah
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