Peanut Butter Swirl "Nice" Cream

I quite firmly believe peanut butter makes everything better and that is certainly true for nice cream! This is an "ice cream" made entirely from blended frozen banana that doesn't have an icy texture like a sorbet. The addition of peanut butter is the key to the creamy texture and decadent feeling! This peanut butter nice cream recipe is:

Delightfully Creamy
Delivers The Decadent Feeling You Want From Ice Cream
Incredibly Quick & Easy
3 Ingredients
Made In Your Food Processor
And Thrifty To Boot!

What Is Nice Cream

"Nice Cream" is the popular term for an ice cream-like treat made by blending frozen bananas with any flavourings of your choice. This dairy-free nice cream can be made in just a few minutes and all in your blender or food processor!

We use our food processor to make nice cream because it processes the chunks of banana easier than our blender. It takes us a bit of stopping and starting to move the banana pieces around and ensure an even blend. But all in all, this recipe takes us about 10 minutes and the tastiness is worth the bit of stopping and starting!

If you have a high powered blender you should be able to blend a very smooth and creamy nice cream without adding any milk. If your blender is like ours and not the strongest on the market, you may need to add tiny amounts of plant milk to help it blend and/or let the banana defrost for just a few minutes.

Ingredients For Peanut Butter Nice Cream

Frozen bananas! We use 3 for this nice cream recipe and have experimented with freezing bananas at different stages of ripeness. We have found:

• Yellow bananas that are just getting spotty but are not yet over-ripe create the best taste and texture for nice cream.

If we freeze:

• Yellow bananas that are not yet spotted...
  • they break down into a crumbly texture in the food processor and don't have as much of a smooth, sweet taste.
• Very brown, over-ripe bananas...
  • they have a mushy texture and create a much more ice-y nice cream. They have less bulk so they produce less nice cream and the colour tends to be darker. The banana flavour can also be more overwhelming.

How To Freeze Bananas?

• Peel them.
• Slice or tear them into smaller chunks.
• If we only freeze 2 or 3 we just place them in a freezer bag.
  • They stick together a bit but aren't too difficult to pull apart.
• When freezing a larger quantity we lay the chunks of banana in a single layer on a baking tray, slide the tray into the freezer, and once the pieces of banana are frozen we transfer them to a freezer bag or container.
  • This way they don't stick together.

And The Flavourings...

For this creamy peanut butter nice cream we add:

⅓ cup peanut butter to the blended frozen bananas.
½ cup chocolate chips.
And an extra swirl of 2 tablespoon peanut butter for fun!

How To Make Peanut Butter Nice Cream

Add your 3 frozen bananas to your food processor or high powered blender and pulse to break them down. Stop to move the frozen pieces around as needed to get an even blend. Then blend until smooth and creamy.

Next, add ⅓ cup peanut butter and blend to combine.

Then add ½ cup chocolate chips and pulse to break down slightly OR simply stir them into the finished nice cream.

Finally, scoop half of the finished nice cream into a freezer safe container and swirl 1 tablespoon peanut butter through. Scoop the remaining nice cream overtop and swirl the last tablespoon of peanut butter through!

*If you are not storing your nice cream for very long, I've reused yogurt containers or even spread the nice cream in a metal baking tin lined with parchment paper.

Freezing Time

A great thing about this nice cream is you can eat it straight out of the blender for a really soft serve texture!

Freezing the peanut butter nice cream for 4-6 hours will give you a truer soft serve. And freezing overnight will ensure your nice cream is completely firm.

Recipe Cost For Peanut Butter Nice Cream

This creamy peanut butter nice cream costs us approximately: CAD $1.94 and yields at least 650 ml.

That works out to $0.32/100 ml vs. store-bought ice cream ranging from $0.33 - $1.50/100 ml.

And if you tend to buy dairy-free ice cream; those options typically cost us $1.20 - $1.50/100 ml. SO... this is a pretty thrifty, easy, and delightfully tasty version!

Take a scoop! Let us know in the comments below if you treat yourself to this decadent peanut butter nice cream! Take a look at our other favourite flavours... our Mint Chip Nice Cream and our Real Simple, Real Good Raspberry Nice Cream!

And if you're a lover of peanut butter, chocolate, and banana don't miss our PB Banana Chip Overnight Oats!

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