Caramelized Banana-Peanut Butter Ice Cream (Vegan)

By jennKI

You can serve it up straight after churning as soft serve, or set up in the freezer for it to harden a bit. This ice cream is low-fat and hence will harden a bit in the freezer. You need to thaw it a bit before scooping. If you use cream/soy creamer/coconut cream in lieu of the water and full-fat vegan or dairy “milk” in lieu of the low-fat “milk”, you’ll be able to get a creamier ice cream that scoops easily without thawing.

Ingredients

• 4 medium bananas
• after peeling, we got 13.7 oz
• 1 tbsp melted extra virgin coconut oil (or organic butter)
• 4 tbsp brown sugar, maple syrup or powdered jaggery/palm sugar
• 1 cup low-fat non-dairy or dairy “milk” (we used lite coconut milk)
• 1.25 cups water (or more “milk”)
• 3/4 cup dry dry roasted peanut powder
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsps lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• more sweetener (optional)
• chocolate chips or chopped nuts (optional)

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from jugalbandi.info

Preparation

Step 1

Notes:
**Organic smooth peanut butter (dry roasted peanuts plus salt) works fine in lieu of peanuts. Don’t add salt to the ice cream if the peanut butter is salted.
**Instead of non-dairy or dairy “milk”, use 1/3 cup coconut milk powder or organic milk powder plus water to get one cup.
**Instead of brown sugar, use organic regular sugar plus 2 tsp unsulphured molasses. Add the molasses later.
**DO NOT use artificial vanilla extract. It has propylene glycol. Not only is it nasty, it acts as an anti-freeze and prevents your ice cream from setting properly.


1. Roast the bananas with the melted coconut oil/butter and 1/4 cup sweetener in a parchment-lined baking sheet. We like it low and slow – 300F for an hour until the bananas are brown and the sugar has caramelized.

2. Roast the peanuts until darkish in another baking sheet, cool and powder in a coffee/spice grinder and measure out 3/4 cup. Or use store-bought dry roasted peanuts.

3. Put the caramelised bananas along with the sugar syrup in a blender jar along with the peanut powder and the water. Blend very fine.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend again. Taste for sweetness and add more sweetener if you need to. It was sweet enough for us.

5. Chill the mixture for 3-4 hours. If you’re in a hurry and can’t wait, use very cold water and “milk” while blending and proceed.

Follow THESE INSTRUCTIONS for making ice cream with or without a machine:

Put the mixture in a shallow dish in a layer about 2 to 3 inches thick. If it was hot to begin with (as in a custard base) chill it in an ice bath first. Then cover and freeze for 45 minutes, whisk it up with a fork or an electric hand/stick blender (the latter is preferred), put it back in, take out again after 30 minutes (or thereabouts) and repeat a couple more times. The idea is to incorporate air and make it light. A heavy-duty blender like Vitamix also works if you break it into chunks.

With no-machine ice creams or sorbets, you can dump all the ingredients including the alcohol together.

If you use just cream (no eggs or custard base), whip the cream until really light with a stick blender and fold in everything else, then freeze and beat a couple of times as stated above.

6. If adding chopped nuts or choc chips while making the ice cream by machine, add three minutes from the end of churning. Transfer to a container with a lid and freeze for another couple hours.