Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Every so often there's a recipe or cooking technique that's changed my life. Learning to make my own hummus using chickpeas I cook from scratch is one. Baking my own whole-wheat bread is another. This ice cream is a third.

Every since I saw this post on The Chubby Vegan blog, I've been wanting to try this one-ingredient "ice cream" that's made with pureed frozen bananas. I expected it to taste like, well, pureed frozen bananas. I was blissfully surprised when I made it and realized it really tastes like creamy ice cream! Seriously!

The first version I made was chocolate peanut butter. Per the Chubby Vegan's instructions, I sliced my banana and froze the slices. Next I pureed them in a blender with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. I think they would puree better in a food processor; my blender didn't like the frozen slices. So I added a tiny bit of soymilk to help it along. The result tasted incredibly like chocolate peanut butter ice cream! If I'd been given the bowl and hadn't made it, I'd swear it was really ice cream.

I've been whipping up this ice cream all weekend long. I tried a plain chocolate version with 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and a little agave nectar. I also tried it plain with just the bananas. Every version I tried was great, and of course it's no-guilt and healthy. I know this is a recipe I'll come back to again and again this summer.