I’ve been long aware of the existence of banana based “ice creams” but the first time I tried it, I didn’t do it right and didn’t love it. This time I did it SOOOO right. And this is the win I needed so badly.
For some context, baking to fit my new life of low-to-no sugar has been really difficult.
Truthfully I could have a whole giant meltdown with the right therapist in front of me about this ONE batch of sugar free lemon cupcakes that were so awful it was honestly kind of (really) sad.
Feels bad, man. To have the hard earned, long learned quality product of the thing you love doing most in the world stolen from you by a diagnosis. Feels… Bad.
Here’s something that felt GOOD. Making THIS.
I have missed coffee ice cream SOOO much and this was more satisfying than any diabetes friendly dessert I’ve ever tried to make or eat. I’m in LOVE. Dessert is solved. Forever. I don’t ever want anything else. Obviously I typed up my bullshit immediately, glancing at a few other recipes for reference on things like freezing times so that I can somewhat know what the hell I’m on about.
Here it is!!
Banana Based Mocha Chip Ice Cream
You will need a good ol’ big food processor or a blender. You may have to work in batches if it’s not a very big one. Godspeed. This might be worth it.
4 medium bananas or 3 large, peeled, then frozen 1.5-2hrs, then chopped. Not necessarily in that order. But peel before freezing.
1/3 cup almond milk (vanilla is great but any is fine)
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use Lily’s No Sugar Added Chips from Walmart)
1 tsp vanilla extract
(I know it’s sometimes tempting with sweet stuff but don’t add salt – there’s nothing sweetening this but banana!!)
1. Blend everything except the chocolate chips 4-5 minutes until smooth and it looks like a soft serve!! MAYBE Add 1 tbsp almond milk and keep blending if it’s not smoothing out at that point. If it’s not smoothing out at THAT point, add a little more and just pray, man
At some point it will be very smooth. Blend it some more. Like another 1-2 minutes. I do not personally want surprise banana chunks. No. You want this REALLY smooth.
2. Add the chocolate chips and blend 2 more minutes. I’m gonna be so honest I don’t know how much this actually does. But it felt like the right move. Maybe you like big chips. That’s cool.
3. Scoop into 2 of the small Chinese soup containers. You know the ones. I’ll be shocked if you don’t know the ones. Or any container really
4. Top with more chips, chopping optional I guess, and freeze 2hrs until ice cream consistency.
You can also just eat it like soft serve right after blending! I sure did 
These photos are from before freezing – I’ll be sure to come back with an update!
Keep frozen but pull out 5-10 minutes before serving, just in case