10 min to make this melt in your mouth chocolate peanut butter ice cream which is sweetened with dates. Loved by toddlers, kids, and the whole family. Refined-sugar free so it won't spike blood sugar like other ice creams.
Ice cream is one of my guilty pleasures. Especially during the late spring and summer months when the days are warmer and longer.
But as you might already know, traditional ice cream is filled with simple sugars. And much more than you would find in non-frozen sweets.
That's because the cold of the ice cream inhibits the sweet taste so manufacturers need to add a lot more sugar for the final frozen product to be tasty.
But luckily there is a simple and easy way to avoid that. And probably cheaper. Homemade Ice Cream! This one being a chocolate peanut butter ice cream sweetened with dates. One of my favorite combinations!
And this is a perfect ice cream for toddlers and kids because they get to enjoy a treat without us having to deal with the sugar rush.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you should avoid store-bought ice cream.
I'm simply saying you can easily make your own healthier version at home that you can serve to your kids (and adults) when in need of a quick and refreshing dessert or snack.
Why we love this recipe
- It is super quick to make (10 min of blending)
- No refined sugar, just sweetened with dates
- Way healthier than standard ice creams
Jump to:
Nutrition And Ingredients
Bananas
- Use the ripest bananas you have at home because they will be the sweetest
Peanut butter
- Only buy 100% peanut butter and not the varieties that have added palm oil (or any other oil for that matter) or salt
- If you are making your own peanut butter, use unsalted peanuts and don't add any oil
- Peanut butter, like other nuts butters, is high in calories and fats. However it contains the "good" kind of fats (unsaturated) that can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases
Whole Milk
- Use full-fat milk in this recipe to make it creamier
- High in protein, fat, calcium, and calories so a great ingredient to use when needing to boost up the calorie and nutrition content of kids and toddler meals
Dates or date syrup
- Natural sweeteners do not spike blood sugar like regular table sugar
- You can use Medjool dates or any other you have on hand. They need to be soaked beforehand to make them softer for blending.
Raw Cocoa Powder
- This is what gives the ice cream its chocolaty taste. Use the raw unsweetened version to get the maximum health benefits.
- Contains great phytonutrients that have strong antioxidants and therefore can support heart health.
- They do contain some caffeine so if serving to babies under the age of 1 for the first time, serve earlier in the day and monitor for any hyperactivity!
How to make healthy ice cream for kids
1. Prepare the bananas. Cut the bananas into small pieces and freeze for about 2 hours.
2. If using dates (instead of date syrup) then place them in a bowl and cover with water so they soften in those 2 hours. If using date syrup then omit this step.
3. Make the basic mixture. Take the bananas out of the freezer and put into a blender. Leave for about 5 minutes so that they just slightly thaw. Add the milk and peanut butter and blend into a creamy mixture.
4. Give it some flavor. Add the dates and raw cocoa powder and blend until you get a nice chocolaty color.
5. Serve or freeze. Pour into a freezing tray of choice and eat right away or freeze. If you freeze, make sure you take it out of the freezer about 10 minutes before you want to eat it.
This homemade ice-cream needs a little time to soften before it's ready to eat.
You can serve this in a bowl or on a cone.
Tips & Tricks
Freeze your bananas beforehand. The trick to getting a really creamy homemade ice cream texture is freezing the bananas beforehand.
Don't over-blend. When adding the flavoring ingredients to the ice cream, make sure not to over-blend the mixture. If you blend it too long the heat from the blender might thaw the bananas too much and instead of the creamy and thick ice cream texture, you will be left with ice cream soup.
If adding solid bits, gently mix them in. Sometimes I like to add some chopped nuts or fruit like berries to the ice cream. The trick when adding these is to gently mix them in with a spatula rather than blending. If you blend them in you'll probably lose the creaminess of the ice cream.
FAQ
Babies can have ice cream from day 1 of weaning. You just need to make sure that the ice cream doesn't contain honey. Even cow's milk which is not recommended as a single food before the age of 1 is fine here since it as an ingredient of ice cream in a pretty small amount.
However, since the dates are pretty sweet I would recommend either omitting them for a baby or serving when they are close to 1 year of age and have already tried lots of other foods.
The reason for this is that once they do get accustomed to a sweet taste, you might see them refusing other new foods that are not as sweet.
As for the caffeine from the raw cocoa powder, it shouldn't really be a problem in the amount used in this recipe. But if offering for the first time in this form, make sure you offer in the morning and monitor for any hyperactivity.
Sugar rush isn't really a term that can be used for every child. Some kids will exhibit hyperactivity symptoms with a gram of sugar consumption and some can have a ton of sweets and won't show any symptoms. And the same goes for the duration of that so-called "sugar rush".
Monitor your child and see what works for them. And you.
You'll need to use full-fat milk in order to make it creamy. Any plant-based milk will work but only high-fat milk (like canned coconut milk) will make it nice and creamy.
I'd definitely recommend using calcium-fortified plant-based milk here if serving to small kids to make sure they get their calcium intake.
Possible Variations
Make more flavors. If you want the ice cream to be more interesting, you can add the date syrup to the banana-milk-peanut butter mixture, blend and take out half of the mixture.
Then add the raw cocoa powder to the other one. Just use half the amount mentioned in the recipe. This way you will have 2 different ice creams with the same effort and time spent making them.
Give it your own touch. I already mentioned that sometimes I like adding chopped up nuts or berries to the ice cream. You can do the same by adding anything that comes to your mind. Just remember - gently mix it in.
More Ice Cream Recipes & Summer Snacks Like This
If you've tried this or any other recipe on the blog, then please rate it and leave us a comment below!
Recipe
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream for Kids
EQUIPMENT
Ingredients
- 3 bananas ripe, frozen
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- ⅕ cup milk
- 2 tbsp date syrup or softened dates (3 dates per tbsp of date syrup) see recipe on how to soften dates
- 2 tbsp raw cocoa powder
Instructions
- Prepare the bananas. Cut the bananas into small pieces and freeze for about 2 hours.
- If using dates then place them in a bowl and cover with water so they soften in those 2 hours. If using date syrup then omit this step.
- Make the basic mixture. Take the bananas out of the freezer and put into a blender. Leave for about 5 minutes so that they just slightly thaw. Add the milk and peanut butter and blend into a creamy mixture.
- Give it some flavor. Add the dates and raw cocoa powder and blend until you get a nice chocolaty color.
- Serve or freeze. Pour into a freezing tray of choice - eat right away or freeze. If you freeze, make sure you take it out of the freezer about 10 minutes before you want to eat it. Because this is a "natural" water-based ice cream it needs a little time to soften before it's ready to eat. You'll need a much higher fat content to make an ice cream that is soft straight out of the freezer.
- You can serve this in a bowl or on a cone.
Notes
Nutrition
If you've tried this or any other recipe on the blog, then please rate it and leave us a comment below!
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