Frozen Chocolate Banana Almond Cream

I created this dish one night because I was craving chocolate. I went into the kitchen to find something to put together with chocolate in it. Two things were quite obvious from the moment I looked in the pantry. I really needed to go to the grocery store and I needed to get creative. So I decided to let the show Chopped inspire me to use what I had on hand to come up with something. And, it turned out we really liked it! Enough so that I've played around with the recipe to come up with a few variations.

 I love to serve this dessert in the ice cream dishes my Grandma Stamm gave me for my hope chest when I was a teenager. But, any dessert dish will work just fine.

Frozen Chocolate Banana Almond Cream

2 large bananas
½ cup almond butter
¼ cup cacao powder
2 teaspoons maple syrup
¼ teaspoon vanilla, optional
chopped almonds, optional
cacao nibs, optional

Peel bananas. Place all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times. Process until smooth, approximately 30-60 seconds, scraping bowl once.

Place in dessert dishes. Cover and place in freezer for 2 hours until soft freeze consistency is reached. If desired, sprinkle a few chopped almonds and/or cacao nibs on top.

Serve.


I shared a version of this recipe on Potluck with Judy in September 2013. If you look at the two versions, you'll see they vary slightly. Basically, I found the addition of the apple butter didn't enhance the flavor or texture, so it felt like a wasted ingredient.

 Note: I use as many organic ingredients as I can find, so I rarely include the word "organic" in my list of ingredients.

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