I LOVE ice cream. And chocolate. Thankfully, living a paleo lifestyle doesn’t mean I can NEVER have these things, but rather that I choose to indulge in them intentionally and sparingly. However, since I started another Performance Nutrition Challenge at my gym, sadly, these yummy treats are off the table for sixty days.
I was craving a sweet dessert the other night when I remembered the “frozen banana trick“. And then I remembered I had a 100% chocolate bar in the cabinet. Combining the two resulted in a delicious frozen chocolate treat very close to the real deal — but without added sugar, making it Challenge friendly/Whole 30 compliant.
Chocolate Banana “Ice Cream”
Yield: 1 serving, but easily doubled
Ingredients & Tools:
- 1 banana, frozen
- 1 oz (2 squares) Ghirardelli Chocolate Baking Bar (100% Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate)
- Mini Food Processor (like this)
Notes:
I really like the Ghiradelli Baking Chocolate — it contains nothing but chocolate (no sugar, no soy lecithin) and has a better flavor than the grocery store Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate. Another option is the Dagoba Organic Unsweetened Chocolate Bar, but it’s even more spendy. Try and find these locally, otherwise you’ll pay double with shipping. I’ve also made this before using unsweetened cocoa powder, but it was not nearly as satisfying.
You need a small food processor for this because the quantity is too small to use a larger processor. I haven’t tried it, but you might be able to use a stick blender or a smaller Magic Bullet container as well.
Directions:
Place chocolate squares in food processor and pulse until finely ground.
Peel frozen banana and cut into slices (thickness doesn’t really matter). Add to the food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
After just a few seconds, the texture should become creamy like ice cream.
Eat immediately and sigh with contentment.
Note: while this treat does not contain any added sugar, bananas are naturally high in sugar, so I wouldn’t recommend eating double servings of this every day. But as an occasional treat to get you over the hump, this is a great choice!
This is a great way to preserve overly ripen bananas. We just throw them in a container and put them in the freezer. When the urge comes up, we already have frozen bananas on hand. I’ve done this with bananas and peanut butter also but will have to try your recipe.
i froze the banana with some almond butter, then added it with the chocolate. Uber Paleo treat
I add coconut milk. Almond butter. Cinnamon and vanilla. Sooo good
Peel your banana before freezing. Much easier. In fact, buy bulk expired bananas, peel, freeze and store in freezer bags. You can even chop em first. The more brown the better. Brown bananas are high in tumor necrosing factor TNF, an anti cancer compound that isn’t in unripened bananas. Plus they are cheaper and in a blender you’ll notice little difference except increased sweetness!!!
Also, add half an avocado. The oils are great for you and the luxuriousness of the ice cream is over the top. And no, you can’t taste the avocado 🙂
You should check out Sebastien’s ‘Paleo ice cream’ recipe at http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-coconut-vanilla-ice-cream/
TIme-consuming, but pretty neat
I love banana and chocolate together. I will try this. Thanks.
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