Healthy (and Easy) Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

Today's recipe is a sweet treat without the guilt! It's a delicious and creamy ice cream that's not only easy to make, but light on the calories and fat.  This ice cream consists of TWO ingredients - peanut butter and banana! There's no sugar, milk, or cream added to this "ice cream!" It may sound crazy, but it actually works!

I first saw a similar recipe on a blog I was visiting from one of my blog link parties I participate in.  That recipe called for banana, peanut butter, and fat free yogurt.  I started researching a little more about this so-called "magic ice cream" and found a lot of variations.  Some use bananas only, but a lot of recipes use banana and peanut butter, such as the recipe I am using that I found on Two Peas and Their Pod.  I decided to give that recipe a try, as I love the peanut butter banana combination.  You may recall my growing list of recipes utilizing the combo including my Elvis muffins and peanut butter banana cookies!

As you may expect, since I am a cake decorator and baking blogger, I have a major sweet tooth.  I try to not go overboard, but I often crave something sweet. I love finding recipes that are delicious without making me feel too guilty.  Because of my sweet tooth, I usually don't end up liking the healthy versions of desserts.  I have tried a lot of healthy options, but most of them are not satisfying.  I am very picky about what I share on here.  I had my doubts about the ice cream going into it, but was very pleasantly surprised by how delicious and creamy this ice cream really is!! It's obviously not quite as sweet as some ice cream, but it is still creamy and refreshing. The only thing I would have changed is we should have frozen it a little longer, it wasn't quite as firm as we wanted.

Another great aspect to this recipe is it doesn't require an ice cream maker. Thanks to our generous friends and family, my husband and I definitely built up our kitchen tools and gadgets when we got married. But one thing we still don't have is an ice cream maker!

By the way, if your peanut butter is lactose free (some contain milk products or dry powder milk) then this ice cream is dairy free as well!

Here's the recipe (it's SO easy):

Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream ingredients (2 servings):

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tbs peanut butter

Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream directions:

• Peel and slice banana into 1/2 inch slices

• Freeze bananas for 1-2 hours
• Places banana slices in food processor or blender
• Puree slices until the mixture is creamy and smooth

• Add peanut butter and puree until combined

• Empty contents into bowl

• Freeze for a couple hours and then serve (you could also serve immediately for a soft serve consistency)

Another great thing about this ice cream is that the possibilities are endless!  You could replace peanut butter with Nutella or a flavored peanut butter (chocolate peanut butter sounds like a good flavor combo).  Another option for changing this ice cream would be to fold chocolate chips in the mixture.  The variation my husband and I did was to add a bit of caramel sauce to the ice cream.  Ok, so it doesn't make it quite as healthy, but we just drizzled a minimal amount of sauce on top!

Hope you enjoy this delicious sweet treat!