Easy Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream – Two Ways

"Mommy, mommy! Make us an ice cream!"

I lift my eyes from the screen. I’ve been so absorbed in writing my latest article, I wasn’t really paying attention to anything around me.

What did they just say?

Oh, an ice cream.

Right.

Thing is, I don’t really have time for this now, nor do I have an ice cream maker.

Truth be told, the closest thing to an ice cream I’ve ever made was my chocolate pudding, which I have accidently frozen one time by shoving it a little too far into the back of the fridge, where apparently, it touched the motor and froze solid.

Seriously, that old motor! It’s been freezing everything and anything that touched it, including our fruits, veggies, milk, butter, breads and what not! I had always thought we needed to fix that old motor… until the day it froze my pudding into an ice cream. Oh, well, I guess I’m willing to overlook that one.

I wonder if I could pull this off again, deliberately this time.

So I make my pudding, put it in the freezer, and cross my fingers. Will my frozen pudding pass for an ice cream? 

Fast forward a few hours, and…. yes, it sure did! (Well, of course it did, or it wouldn’t have made it to this post, duh...)

Phew, a sigh of relief.

As a bonus, my kiddos licked the bowl dry, so we ended up with a few chins and noses happily smudged with chocolate.

A few quick tips will take this treat to the next level:
1. Use very ripe bananas. They are a natural sweetener.
2. The whipping cream makes all the difference. I use high quality organic 35% whipping cream.
3. Speaking of organic, I use organic ingredients whenever possible. However, this is a personal choice. Non-organic ingredients will do just fine.
4. Feel free to tweak the measurements to your liking. The following recipe yields quite a sweet and chocolatey result.

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

Preps:

• Making:  10 minutes
• Freeze time:  about 2 ½ hours 

Serves:  5

You will need:

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 1 ½ cups whipping cream
• ¾ tsp. pure vanilla extract (that’s ½ tsp.+ ¼ tsp. on your measurement spoon kit)
• 2 tbs. cocoa powder
• 3 squares dark chocolate (for chocolate ‘chips’)

Also recommended:

• A freezer-friendly bowl
• A stick blender

How to make it:

1. Using your hands, break the bananas into chunks, and place in a freezer-friendly bowl.
2. Add the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder.
3. Blend till smooth.
4. Chop chocolate squares into small flakes, and sprinkle over the pudding.
5. Freeze for about 2 ½ hours.
6. Take out of the freezer about 25 minutes before serving.

Here is the process in pictures:

I’ve made another version without bananas, since one of my kids isn’t crazy about them. It’s based on my homemade chocolate mousse.

Chocolate Mousse Ice Cream

Preps:

• Making:  5 minutes
• Freeze time:  about 1 hour

Serves:  2

For the chocolate mousse ice cream you will need:

• ½ cup whipping cream
• ¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ tsp. cocoa powder 
• 2 sachets stevia powder, or to taste
• 1 square dark chocolate (for chocolate ‘chips’)

Also recommended:

• A freezer-friendly bowl
• A stick blender with a whisk

How to make it:

1. In a deep jar whip cream, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and stevia, till smooth.
2. Chop chocolate square into small flakes.
3. Transfer mousse into a freezer-friendly bowl, then sprinkle chocolate flakes over it.
4. Freeze for about an hour.
5. Take out of the freezer a couple of minutes before serving.

Hey, what’s that? Did I just see you dipping your fingers in the mousse? Oh, you’re just taste-testing?

Well, sure, if you have no patience to wait till it’s frozen, just go ahead and enjoy your dessert right now!  I totally understand.

Wishing you a wonderful indulgilicous weekend,

Didi
Wise Choice Market