This light yet decadent Mocha Nice Cream has just three simple ingredients: coffee, cocoa powder, and bananas! No churning or special equipment required.
I travelled the 7 hour train ride down south to my parents in Germany last week to pick up all my worldly possessions, which have just finally made their way across the Atlantic from Texas to Europe. And while I may have been in a constant state of panic as I unpacked over how the heck all my belongings are going to fit in the boyfriend-tulip-man’s itty bitty house, I found room to love/want/need yet another kitchen accessory…the Vitamix.
As per usual, I’m late to the “trendy new toys” game and had never tried a Vitamix, but holy moly did this thing revolutionize my smoothies. So I put it to the nice cream test.
What is nice cream?
Nice cream is essentially frozen, blended bananas with whatever flavor makers you desire/have on hand. But the key to good nice cream is in the blender. You need something strong enough to cut through the frozen bananas that will also aerate the mixture into light, fluffy decadence.
So while our little handheld immersion blender up in Holland just won’t do the trick, a heavy duty food processor or blender, like the ancient Vitamix I discovered at my parents’ house, certainly will!
I whipped this no-sugar nice cream together about an hour before my train left to head back up to Holland, so obviously I was running around like a headless chicken, packing, doing my hair, making nice cream, packing more. So it did melt an insy bit before I could take the pictures, making for a more moussey nice cream. But nevertheless, this is chocolatey and coffee-y (?) and decadent without the guilt-inducing fat or calories.
More of our favorite nice cream flavors
Just like there are a million flavors of ice cream, there are a gazillion ways to make nice cream! Here are a few of our favorites.
- Ultimate Guide to Nice Cream
- Raspberry Basil Nice Cream
- Banana Nice Cream Milkshakes
- Mint Chocolate Avocado Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 cups chopped bananas 470 g, frozen*
- 1 tsp instant espresso or coffee powder 2.5 g
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 15 g
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional) 50 g, or vegan substitute
Instructions
- In a heavy duty blender or food processor, blend frozen bananas until smooth and creamy. If necessary, allow bananas to thaw for 5 minutes before blending.
- Add coffee and cocoa powder and blend until evenly mixed.
- Stir in chocolate chips. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the freezer.
amy valle says
banana/peanut butter smoothies are an easy go-to for me but i love the idea of thickening it up as an “ice cream” + adding espresso powder. YUM- what a good idea!
GW says
This is about a good chocolate Ice Cream as I’ve had but it is low calorie and low fat. I’m going to take out the chocolate chips and mix in a bit of the PB2 (dry peanut butter) as a variant of what Amy Valle suggests above.
Adrienne says
I make a version of this in my trusty ol’ kitchen aid blender ( it all whizz the bejeebers of of anything I throw into it!) I like a banana mango combo. I keep a variety of frozen fruit in the freezer as fresh fruit costs a fortune in eastern Canada in the winter.
GW says
Banana & Mango is a great combo. Try frozen spinach sometime. The spinach doesn’t really affect the taste, but dramatically improves the nutrition profile and volume without adding calories. I like to put a bit of sugar free vanilla sweetener in it occasionally when the sweet tooth comes calling.
Sarah says
Oh with mango sounds delicious! As I’ve started making more smoothies and now this ice-cream, I’m starting to understand the beauty that is frozen fruit. So affordable! I even freeze my kale and spinach, which as GW says, can be pretty great in nice cream as well. š
GW says
Keep the Ideas coming Sarah. Loved that video recipe you did on Berry Bulgur. That was creative and fun while most video recipes are informative but like watching paint dry.
leilani says
Would ground espresso beans work too? Or does it need to be instant espresso powder only?
Sarah says
Hi Leilani! I used the instant espresso so it would dissolve more readily without leaving little coffee bits, but I think finely ground espresso would work as well š
Jennifer says
Would ready made coffee work as well?
Sarah says
Hi Jennifer! I think ready made coffee would be too liquidy in this case. Perhaps if the coffee was very strong and you just use a little it would work š