Ice Cream for Monkeys

I'm short on blogging time today. Its a government holiday. Which means The Mister is home, so I have to go sip coffee and watch him work in the yard before it begins to rain. Its a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. 

I'm going to post a recipe for Banana Ice Cream that my friend Becky made for me earlier this summer.

I have monkey that lives here who eats a lot of bananas. He just really likes them, but the window between ripe and over-ripe is short. 

If you have some bananas that are going brown, but aren't completely mushy you have the right banana for this ice cream. Of course, I think it would work with any banana at varying ripeness, dependent on your tastes.

Peel and slice your banana and freeze them on a cookie sheet or cake pan covered with butcher paper (wax side up) or plastic wrap (this makes taking the frozen banana off the cookie sheet very easy!)

Freeze slices for 45 minutes - 2 hours. 

After completely frozen, I take the slices and place them in a zip bag until I'm ready to use them.

When ready to make ice cream, place frozen slices in a food processor. 

Pulse until bananas look like little pieces of gravel. 

Scrape down the sides if needed.

Put lid on and keep pulsing. 

I can't tell you exactly when the banana magic will happen, but suddenly (just when you think it isn't gonna happen) they pulse into what looks like soft serve ice cream... its amazing, actually.

My monkey enjoys his ice cream just as it is, so I usually scoop a bit out for him before adding anything else. However,  I occasionally add a small scoop of peanut butter and Nutella. 

Oh, who am I kidding, I ALWAYS add a scoop of peanut butter and Nutella. But one time I pulsed up a scoop of peanut butter and a teaspoon of (unsweetened) cocoa powder, and it was divine.

So go bananas, and make some Monkey Ice Cream next time you need a little something sweet, and you have some brownish bananas on hand.

Happy Labor Day!