One-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream: National Ice Cream Day!

Today is National Ice Cream Day. Our temps are in the 100s, so it's the perfect food for today! My favorite ice cream when I was little was Banana Ice Cream. We used to stop at the Howard Johnson's on the Highway, and I was always thrilled that they had 28 flavors! As amazed as I was by all the flavors, I usually picked banana. Here's an unbelievably easy One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream recipe. It's healthier, too, since there's no cream, no sugar ... just bananas. And, since this is a chocolate blog, just pour some chocolate sauce over it when you're ready to eat! This pure banana 'ice cream' is really creamy, too, because bananas are high in pectin.

One-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream 

Large ripe bananas.
Peel bananas and chop into evenly sized small pieces.
(Optional but good step) Put bananas in airtight container: freezer bag. Freeze banana pieces for at least 2 hours to overnight.
In small food processor, blend frozen banana pieces. Keep blending —  banana will look crumbly. Scrape down food processor. Keep blending —  banana will look gooey: like banana mush. Scrape down food processor. Keep blending — banana will look like oatmeal: It will get smoother but still have chunks of banana in it. Scrape down food processor. Suddenly, as the last bits of banana smooth out, you'll see mixture shift from blended banana to creamy, soft-serve ice cream texture. Blend for a few more seconds to aerate ice cream.
Transfer to airtight container and freeze until solid: You can eat the ice cream immediately, but it will be quite soft. You can also transfer it back into airtight container and freeze until solid, like traditional ice cream.

Food processor vs. blender: Food processor works best since it has enough room for the banana to get fully creamy and a little bit aerated. Some people do make it in a blender, but be careful; make sure your blender is powerful enough to process the frozen bananas. 

Making a bigger batch: Make sure your food processor is big enough (and powerful enough).