Chocolate banana nice cream
Chocolate nice cream made from frozen bananas, cocoa and dates. It tastes like chocolate ice cream but has a fraction of the fat.
Cocoa is the simplest way to turn banana nice cream into “chocolate ice cream”. Unlike chocolate, it brings no sugar and has only about 11 % fat, but a fair amount of fibre. It doesn’t completely hide the banana, but it moves the flavour towards a chocolate dessert. The healthier side: about 115 kcal per 100 g and minimal fat; the trade-off is the same as with banana nice cream — eat it straight away.
Type: Sorbet · Servings: 4 · Difficulty: Easy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 450 g overripe banana (brown-speckled, peeled) (4 bananas with brown spots)
- 50 g dates (Medjool, pitted) (3 Medjool dates, pitted)
- 25 g cocoa powder (10–12 % fat) (unsweetened, ideally Dutch-process (alkalised))
- 30 g peanut butter 100 % (for topping or folding in at the end, for drizzling, optional)
Making the mix
- Peel the bananas and cut them into rounds about 1 cm thick.
- Pit the dates; soak dry ones in hot water for 10 minutes and drain.
Method — High-speed blender
- Spread the banana rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper and freeze for at least 6 hours.
- Put the frozen bananas, dates and cocoa in a high-speed blender or food processor and blend in pulses, scraping down the sides, until you have a smooth cream (3–5 minutes).
- If the blender struggles, add 1–2 tablespoons of water or plant-based drink.
- Serve straight away, or after 30 minutes in the freezer, drizzled with peanut butter.
Total time: 6 h 15 min
Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines
- Blend the unfrozen bananas, dates and cocoa into a smooth purée, pour it into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line, put the lid on and freeze level for 24 hours.
- Put the tub in the machine and run the Sorbet program.
- If the result is powdery, add 1–2 tablespoons of water or plant-based drink and run Re-spin.
Programme: Sorbet
Total time: 24 h 15 min
Stages
- Preparation
- 10 min
- Freezing
- 6 h
- Processing in the machine
- 5 min
- Total time
- 6 h 15 min
Plan: what to do and when
The whole recipe takes 6 h 15 min, of which 15 min is hands-on — the rest is waiting you can spend elsewhere.
The making itself fits into a single day — start at least 6 h 15 min before serving.
- Prepare the mix (weigh and stir the ingredients) — 10 min
- Put the mix in the freezer — 6 h
- Process in the machine — 5 min
Serving and storage
With peanut butter, chopped nuts or cacao nibs. With frozen sour cherries you get a “Black Forest” version.
Best eaten as soon as it is made; leftovers harden in the freezer, so blend them briefly again before eating.
Tips
- Dutch-process (alkalised) cocoa is darker and milder; natural cocoa is more acidic and fruity.
- A pinch of salt and a drop of vanilla bring out the chocolate flavour.
- The peanut butter goes on top, not in the mix — it contains peanuts, one of the 14 major allergens.
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Articles that mention this recipe
Sweeteners in ice cream: erythritol, xylitol, stevia and co.
Which sugar substitutes are permitted in the EU, how they behave in ice cream and what to watch out for — from the laxative effect to dogs.
How we calculate the composition · What PAC and POD mean · Balance this mix in the calculator