I was out of town this past weekend and I came home to a bunch of very ripe bananas. Since I am leaving for my MONTH long trip (more on that later) this coming weekend, I needed to use up these bananas ASAP. I usually use ripe bananas as an excuse to make banana bread, but I didn't feel like turning the oven on. I also sometimes use extra bananas to make banana soft serve, so I came up with the ingenious idea to blend these two recipes and make BANANA BREAD SOFT SERVE.
Step 1: Make Your Banana Bread - Since I didn't want to go through the trouble of actually baking banana bread, I decided to use homemade banana bread Larabars instead. Per usual, I didn't follow a recipe when making my Larabars... but there are plenty out there to follow: Oh She Glows has a recipe that I'm sure would work for this. You could also just buy a few Larabars. You will want to use the equivalent of about 3 bars, so if your recipe makes more, save the extras for another time (or eat separately).
Step 2: Make Your Banana Soft Serve - Slice and freeze 3-5 bananas (or more if you want more soft serve). Once frozen, add to your food processor with a few tablespoons of non dairy milk (just enough to get the mix going) and blend until smooth. I also added about two teaspoons of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
Step 3: Combine and Consume - Crumble your "banana bread" into your soft serve and pulse until well combined. Consume immediately! This is best and most like soft serve when eaten immediately. You could also stick the mix back in the freezer, but you will want to let it defrost a bit before eating.
This concoction turned out worlds better than I could have imagined. The larabar gave the soft serve some texture and chew, and the ripe bananas provided sweetness without any added sugars. Delicious, but healthy enough to have for breakfast (which I did two days in a row).
I know not everyone is as much of a banana lover as I am. For those of you who are not bananas for bananas, I recommend the following substitutions:
- Use a different homemade Larabar flavor. I'm definitely going to try this with chocolate and/or peanut butter bars next time. Chocolate Covered Katie has a whole slew of recipes you can choose from.
- Use less ripe bananas in your banana soft serve. Green or yellow bananas will still give you a great soft serve consistency but will have less banana flavor than spotted or brown bananas. Less ripe bananas will also be less sweet, so you may need to add sweetener such as agave or maple syrup depending on your taste buds.
- Get creative with add-ins! Mix in mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, nut butter, banana chips... the possibilities are endless!
What do you do with overripe bananas? Have you ever tried banana soft serve?
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