The latest craze that's taken the food blogging and Instagram world by storm; you'll see piles of banana 'nicecream' regally decorated on almost every page. Now don’t be fooled by the word 'ice-cream' here, this so called 'nicecream' actually boasts just two ingredients: frozen bananas and water! So is completely guilt-free and can be eaten for a filling, vegan and low-fat breakfast.
But those are just the basic ingredients, by adding fruit like frozen mango or berries, or a tablespoon of raw cacao powder and a teaspoon of vanilla extract, banana nicecream can be transformed into your favorite flavors without any of the bad stuff. It doesn't even taste too much of banana anymore, and no added sweetener is needed, especially if the bananas were ripe and spotty when frozen, adding their own sweetness to the your breakfast.
Also, when left plain, the simple banana flavor can provide an excellent base for toppings such as fruit, cereals and granola, an alternative to having these with the usual accompaniment of milk.
How To:
Step 1: Freezing your bananas
- Always make sure to leave your bananas ripen until brown and spotty before freezing – trust me, this makes them taste 10x sweeter and also aids with digestion.
- NEVER FREEZE WITH SKIN – Always peel your bananas before freezing to avoid the horrid task of trying to peel bananas that feel like stone.
- Depending on the power of your blender, it is good to chop your bananas into chunks.
- Then just chuck all the chunks into a container or plastic bag to put in your freezer for at least 24 hours.
Step 2: Blending
- Nicecream requires a decent quality blender, those frozen chunks of banana give even the most powerful some time to work their magic.
- I usually begin with about 2 frozen bananas worth in the blender and blend on high with about ¼ cup of water until smooth before gradually adding more chunks until I have the amount I want.
- Sometimes a good deal of scraping down the sides is needed for a smooth and creamy blend.
- If your blender continues to put up a fight, leave your bananas out to defrost for a few minutes to make them softer and easier to blend.
Step 3: Flavors
- Now is the time to add whatever flavors you wish to your nicecream, this can come in the form of deeper flavors like a tablespoon of raw cacao powder, or peanut butter, or more refreshing ones with fresh or frozen fruit whizzed in.
- For a more nutritious punch you can even add a scoop of protein powder into your nicecream!
Step 4: Toppings
• Our personal favorite nicecream topping has got to be granola and berries, but you can genuinely add whatever you want at this stage like maple syrup, cacao nibs, coconut flakes, toasted nuts, chia seeds, chocolate sauce, or whatever you have in the cupboard. You might want to even try cooking some frozen fruit in a pan on a low temperature to create simple fruit compote!
