Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter “Ice Cream”

Although I have used a mini processor for this frozen treat and it does work, a full size version works best. A high-powered blender, like a Vitamix, handles the frozen bananas well, too. If using a mini processor, allowing the banana to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly is helpful. Or use the milk trick described in the notes below.

Yields 2-3 servings.

Ingredients

3 large bananas, cut into chunks and frozen
3 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
Honey or sweetener to taste (I use a couple teaspoons honey, adding at the end and tasting for just the right amount.)

Place the bananas in a food processor and process. The bananas will begin to look like dry crumbs, not a creamy soft serve. This is good. You may have to stop and stir the fruit a few times as the bananas often form a clump. (see notes)
When you reach the “crumb” stage, add all the remaining ingredients except the honey or sweetener of choice. I gently mix the cocoa powder into the banana mixture, just enough so that it doesn’t poof up when you start the processor.
Enjoy immediately as you would soft serve ice cream or store in freezer. This will freeze hard like regular ice cream. When I make extra to store in the freezer, I let it sit at room temperature a few minutes to soften before serving.

The mixture will become creamy, but if you have trouble waiting, you may slowly drizzle milk (any kind will do) through the feed chute until a smooth and creamy consistency is achieved. I used to always do this–no more than a few tablespoons–but now I keep processing, stopping to stir the bananas and scrape down the sides occasionally, until the magical moment when it all comes together as “ice cream”!