Banana Maple Walnut No Cream ‘Ice Cream’

I know a lot of people that are attempting to go gluten-free (not me or at least not yet) and dairy free (yes me!), but are still looking for tasty dessert alternatives, so I decided to experiment this past Easter weekend with no cream banana ‘ice cream’ flavours! All in good time as my “mother-in-law” (to be, one day) is experimenting with a gluten free diet and we were invited to her house on Easter Sunday! This recipe is really simple, you just need to think/plan ahead as it requires preparation of a couple hours in advance.

Ingredients for 8-10 one scoop servings:

• 4 Bananas (sliced into medallions, frozen for min. 2 hours)
• 4 Tblsps of Maple Syrup
• 2 Tsps of Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tblsp of Brown Sugar
• 3 Tblsps of Almond Milk
• 1/2 Cup to 1 Cup Coarsely Chopped Walnuts ( I am not a huge fan of nuts so I stuck with 1/2 cup, but do as you wish)
• 1/2 Tsp of Ground Cinnamon – optional

 

Sliced Bananas

Directions

1. First you need to slice 4 bananas into medallions and place them on parchment paper on either a baking sheet or plate, depending on what will fit in your freezer, then cover in plastic wrap. The parchment paper will prevent the slices from sticking to the plate or sheet.
2. Freeze for a minimum of 2 hours.
3. Once frozen, remove from freezer and put banana slices into food processor.
4. Start machine and blend until smooth (it should look like soft serve ice cream).*side note* You might find that in order to get to this stage you need to scrape down the sides of the food processor and push the frozen bananas back down close to the blades, as I found the bananas forming into a ball and just spinning around inside the machine.
5. Once it is smooth, you can add the rest of the ingredients, except the walnuts, to the food processor and mix until blended.
6. Remove ‘ice cream’ from food processor and place it into an airtight freezer safe container, add walnuts and mix in with spoon or spatula.
7. Freeze for an additional couple hours before enjoying!

On Easter Sunday Barney, Nick and I piled into the car to head over to the in-laws!

Barney

Unfortunately, I was we were all so hungry for dessert by the end of the evening that I forgot to snap a pic of the Banana Maple Walnut no cream ‘ice cream’ in action! Below is an almost identical picture though of what it looked like!

What a great replacement for real ice cream!  And for all those detesters of dairy and gainsayers of gluten, you’ll love the lack of side effects that comes along with the enjoyment of this sweet treat!

Enjoy!