Nice Cream is a healthy substitute for ice cream, and you can easily make it from home with frozen fruit and a high speed blender. Nice cream contains no dairy, no added sugar, and no added saturated fat. Of course you could use a frozen avocado for a variation and enjoy the benefits of healthy monounsaturated fat rather than saturated fat found in dairy products.
Most nice-cream will always start with a base of banana nice-cream.
Banana Nice Cream - Basic Recipe
1) Freeze whole, peeled, ripe bananas until firm. The riper the bananas, the sweeter the nice cream.
2) Break 3 bananas into 1-inch chunks (about 3 cups frozen fruit); then blend the chunks in a food processor or high-speed blender such as a Vitamix until smooth, adding up to ¼ cup plant milk if necessary. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, use a food processor. Frozen fruit may damage a less powerful blender.
3) Serve immediately for a soft-serve texture, or place in the freezer 1 to 2 hours for a firmer consistency. Longer freezing times may require a little room-temperature defrosting to make the nice cream scoopable.
Cherry and Chocolate Nice Cream (like Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia)
4 medium-sized bananas, cut into 1-inch pieces and frozen
1 cup frozen cherries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, as needed
2 tablespoons mini vegan chocolate chips
Get creative with variations and additional flavorings!
Variations:
Mangoes: peeled, cut into chunks
Peaches, nectarines: peeled, pitted, quartered
Apricots: pitted and halved
Honeydew, cantaloupe: peeled, seeded, cut into chunks
Once frozen, blend 3 cups of the prepared fruit with up to ¼ cup plant milk until smooth.
Once you’ve got the basics down, there’s no end to the nice cream combinations you can dream up, from classic chocolate (bananas + cocoa powder) and creamy pistachio (banana + pistachio butter) to exotic acai (base fruit + frozen acai purée) or summery strawberry basil (base fruit + strawberries + chopped basil).
Flavorings to try:
2 to 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, cacao powder, or carob powder
1 to 2 tablespoons nut butter
¼ cup frozen acai purée
¼ to ½ cup passionfruit purée
½ to 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon or cardamom
1 pinch ground nutmeg
¼ to ½ tsp. almond, lemon, or coconut extract
1–2 tablespoons citrus (lemon, lime, or orange) juice
1–2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil, rosemary, mint
Enjoy your home-made healthy nice-cream!