Easy Homemade Banana Ice Cream

Such easy. Much peasy.
This week was the beginning of my summer break, meaning that I've had a lot of time on my hands to try new things. One of my current crazes is looking at online recipes that are super simple and don't involve long shopping lists. You'd be surprised at how many delicious dishes you can create using less than five ingredients! Cakes, pies, pasta, and even- you guessed it- ice cream!! At the risk of making this whole blog about ice cream, I just had to share this with you. You can make a creamy, delicious banana ice cream using only one ingredient in its most basic form. All you really need are a few large, ripe bananas. 

Method 
(5 large bananas = 6-8 servings)

1. Cut the ripe bananas into thick slices.
2. Wrap the banana slices in cling-wrap, and place into the freezer for over 2 hours.
3. Take the banana slices out of the freezer and blend them in a food processor until smooth. Optional extra step: Add a couple tablespoons of another flavour according to your preference. For instance, I decided to add some coconut cream to enrich the creamy taste of the bananas. Other alternatives could include cocoa powder, coffee powder, peanut butter, salted caramel, berries, or Nutella (keeping in mind that the ripe bananas are already very sweet).
4. Blend on high speed for 30 more seconds to aerate and thicken the mixture.
5. Pour the mixture into a large container. Optional extra step: At this point, you may want to add some texture with crushed nuts, chocolate chips, or even small chunks of fruit and berries. I opted for walnuts. Stir through so that the texture is fairly even throughout.
6. Freeze the mixture overnight, then serve with optional toppings as desired. I chose to serve my banana ice cream with toasted desiccated coconut and hot chocolate sauce. 

What's great about this recipe is that even though it doesn't contain any fattening, unhealthy ingredients such as thick cream or even full-cream milk, the end result is still creamy and tasty. Although the texture is a bit icier than that of ordinary dairy-based ice cream, it is actually very enjoyable as a sorbet. The taste doesn't suffer from the lack of dairy products, and it's a great vegan alternative. I seriously recommend you to try it at home - it's such an easy, great dessert and you really can't go wrong! You can also experiment with your own flavours and give it a unique twist. Maybe try choc-nut banana popsicles, or blueberry-banana ice cream on waffles, or perhaps even peanut-butter-and-banana ice cream toasties! Don't be afraid to be daring, either - if veganism isn't your schtick, then I've heard bacon and banana are a weirdly wonderful combination. Let your creativity run wild, because the possibilities are endless. Hopefully you'll get as much fun and satisfaction from this recipe as I did this summer. :3 Enjoy!