How To Make Creamy Ice-Cream With Just One Ingredient

Yes, that's right; you heard us. Creamy, soft-serve style ice cream with just one ingredient — and no ice cream maker needed! What is this one magic ingredient that can be whipped into perfectly rich and silky ice cream, with no additional dairy, sweeteners, or ingredients needed whatsoever?

If you guessed BANANA, congratulations! You're right!

It turns out that frozen bananas are good for more than just dipping in chocolate If you freeze a banana until solid, then whiz it up in a blender or food processor, it gets creamy and a little gooey, just like good custard ice cream. I assumed that a blended banana would be flaky or icy. But no — it makes creamy, rich ice cream.

Some bananas, depending on their ripeness, have a bit of that green aftertaste. You can experiment with adding in another ingredient or two, like a tablespoon of peanut butter and another of honey. Delicious!

The smidgen of fat in bananas makes a magic trick when they are frozen and blended up. They turn creamy instead of crumbly, with a smooth texture any home ice cream chef would love to have in their frozen treats.

Here's a step-by-step slide show of how to do it. The major tips can be summed up as:

Peel your bananas first and cut them into small pieces.
Freeze for just 1-2 hours on a plate.

Blend, blend, blend - scraping down the bowl when they stick.

And...

Enjoy the magic moment when they turn into ice cream!

Adapted from The Kitchen; images by Faith Durand

Categories: Cooking , Recipes