Banana Ice Cream with Toasted Walnuts and Chocolate Swirl
This is my dairy-free and no-refined-sugar version of my favorite Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor. I don’t want to get into any copyright infringement issues, so let’s just call this Obese Chimpanzee ice cream. It’s a banana ice cream base, swirled with toasted walnuts and chocolate. It is irresistible. I melted the chocolate with a little coconut oil to keep it from turning into little chocolate rocks in the freezer–which is also a good way to make your own “Magic shell” topping.
You want your bananas to be nice and ripe for this, so that you get a good flavor base. If your bananas are on the small side, use three instead of two.
Banana Ice Cream with Toasted Walnuts and Chocolate Swirl (dairy free)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup walnut pieces
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk (13-15 ounces)
- 2 large, ripe bananas, peeled
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup honey
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
- Place the walnut pieces in a small skillet. Toast them over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they just start to glisten and smell toasty. Remove the walnuts from the pan and let them cool completely.
- In a blender, combine the coconut milk, bananas, vanilla, honey, and salt. Blend until very smooth. Pour the mixture into your ice cream freezer and let it churn. When the ice cream is close to the texture you like, pour in the cooled walnuts and let them blend in.
- While the ice cream is churning, put the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until the chocolate is completely melted. Let this cool, but not harden, while the ice cream is churning.
- When the ice cream is the texture you like, stop the churning and swirl in the chocolate mixture by hand (this keeps it from breaking up too much). Place the finished ice cream in the freezer to "cure" for about a half hour before serving. Makes about a quart.
If you have any leftovers, store them in a freezer container (not the ice cream freezer canister) and then take it out of the freezer about ten minutes before you are ready to serve it, to let it soften up a bit. This is definitely treat food, but well worth it.
