Nearly every new vegan I’ve met loves banana ice cream - it’s like magic. Haven’t heard of it before? You take frozen bananas and blend them up until they turn into soft-serve vegan ice cream. If you want to harness that magic and go a few steps further, this is the book for you.
Written by the founder of the company Nana Ice Cream, Margie Broadhead HAS to have her recipes down pat. And with the experience she has professionally training as a chef, blogging for years, and then starting her own catering company, you know it’s going to be good.
The book is extraordinarily colorful & graphic, with superb food and prop styling. If you’re into beautiful books like we are, you’ll enjoy the design and feel of this one. It even has a nice embossed hard cover, which is great when you’re looking for that tactile experience offline, in the kitchen.
Nice Cream is not JUST strictly ice cream. It includes breakfasts, smoothies, cakes, cookies, and more. It’s also not explicitly vegan - there are a few mentions of honey, nutella (includes vegan recipe), white chocolate chips, and a couple with eggs. But the vast majority are 100% vegan (like the chocolate banana mocha waffle cake, just to name one) and those that aren’t can more than easily be substituted for.
It goes from the very basics of how to freeze bananas, to how to make basic banana ice cream, to creating show-stopping dessert centerpieces. A lot of the recipes are “component” recipes, where they add on sauces or toppings, so it’s easy to go as over-the-top with it as you choose. (Or not!) It’s a great variety of recipes to choose from, and if you want to get more ideas of how to use the humble, delicious banana, you should definitely check out this book.
where to get it
Guilt-Free Nice Cream
Margie Broadhead
Hardie Grant Books (ISBN 9781784880835)
https://www.amazon.com/Guilt-Free-Nice-Cream-Amazing-Dairy-Free/dp/1784880833
layout
Nice Cream
Breakfast
Smoothies & Shakes
Pops & Lollies
Cookes & Cakes
Puddings
Sauces & Toppings
the best part
the simplicity of the recipes mixed with the clean, colorful photographs & design
who this book is for
people obsessed with making super easy, healthy desserts
people who need dairy-free ice cream but either want to do-it-themselves and/or not pay for expensive ice creams at the store
or just got into veganism and wants to explore further
standout recipes
flourless banana pancakes with cherry vanilla nice cream
triple choco-tastic nice-cream popsicles with toasted almond chocolate shell
chocolate banana mocha waffle cake (as we discussed earlier!)
cinnamon-baked apples with banana bread nice cream
(vegan!) ultimate butterscotch caramel sauce
Banoffee Overnight Oats with soft-serve cinnamon Nice Cream
Recipe excerpted with permission.
For the overnight oats (enough for 4 mornings)
150 g (5 oz / 1 1/2 cups) rolled oats
420 ml (14 fl oz) almond milk
60 ml (2 fl oz) apple juice
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the cinnamon nice cream
2 bananas, peeled and frozen
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Medjool date
a pinch of salt
Optional toppings
Caramelised Bananas (see below)
crumbled pecans
coconut flakes
crumbled cashews
Date Syrup (see below)
To prepare the oats, simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and then leave to soak overnight in the fridge. The next day, if the mix looks a little dry add more almond milk. Then scoop into a small jar or bowl.
Now, make the cinnamon nice cream. Put the bananas, vanilla extract, cinnamon, date and salt in a food processor and blend until thick and creamy, scraping down the sides every 30 seconds. Process until the mixture becomes completely smooth and has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.
Scoop the nice cream on top of the oats and add the Caramelised Bananas and any other topping(s) of your choice.
Caramelised Banana
Serves 2
2 bananas
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp coconut sugar
pinch of salt
A really simple way to jazz up the nice cream is to caramelise the bananas first. These caramelised bananas are really easy to do, and are ridiculously delicious just as they are. If you can resist the temptation to eat them straight from the pan, they make an insanely good nice cream.
Slice 2 bananas into rounds at least 1 cm (1/2 in) thick.
Melt the coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add the coconut sugar and salt. Place the banana slices in the pan. Cook until the bottoms turn golden brown and caramelised. Flip the slices over and brown on the other side.
Date Syrup
Makes approx. 600 ml (20 fl oz)
400 g (14 oz / 2 1/2 cups) dates, pitted
800 ml (28 fl oz) water
This is such a versatile syrup. It’s great used as a sweetener in recipes but it’s also lovely as a sauce drizzled on top of your favourite nice cream.
Place the dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a low simmer and cook for 2 hours or until the dates are very soft. If it begins to look dry, add a little more hot water. By the end of cooking, the mixture should be thick and caramel in colour. Leave to cool and then pour through cheesecloth into a large mixing bowl. Give the dates a really good squeeze, trying to get out as much of the liquid as possible.
Pour the strained liquid into a saucepan and simmer for another 20–30 minutes or until it has the consistency of maple syrup. Once cool, store in a sealed jar, in the fridge. It will keep for up to a week.
