Semi-quick Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Yesterday I was craving ice cream and a smoothie just wasn't going to cut it. We didn't have any in our freezer and I'm not about to hop in my car and drive to Kroger just for ice cream (not to mention the fact that most of the brands sitting on those frosted shelves have a book-long list of ingredients).

So not wanting to break the calorie bank, I decided to come up with something myself. I was inspired by this recipe for a low-calorie quick ice cream, but I wanted to make a single serving and I wanted to standardize the recipe a little more. I toyed around with some ingredients and put them in the freezer and tried not to think about it for an hour and a half. It was frozen around the edges when I got it out so I blended it with some ice cubes and it came out like this:

Not bad. Certainly looks yummylicious.

But after ten seconds it looked like this:

And by the time I finished...I would have had to call it soup if anyone had asked me what I was eating. The ice cubes made it too bland and there was way too much liquid. Plus when I calculated the nutrition information it was a little higher in calories than I wanted it.

So I tinkered around some more and gave the new mixture a little more time in the freezer. I waited to eat it until today, but if you start checking on it after 4-5 hours, it should be frozen enough. The goal is to get it frozen solid if possible.

I know you're thinking...that's not quick!! But here's what you could do. Make a bunch of single servings and freeze them so whenever you want one you can pull it out!

Here's my final recipe:

Semi-quick Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Makes 1 serving

1/4 banana
1/2 cup unsweetened plain or vanilla almond or soy milk
1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tbsp chocolate chips (mini if you have 'em)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp instant expresso (optional...but tasty!)
1/2 tsp maple syrup (you can use 1/2 packet stevia instead if you wish...)
1 teensy pinch of salt

Mash the quarter of a banana in a freezer-safe container. (I always keep frozen bananas cut up into fourths in my freezer for smoothies and occasions such as this.) Add the other ingredients and whisk. Freeze for at least 4 hours. Thaw for a few seconds in the microwave until you can get it to slide out in a few chunks. Blend. (I used my Big Boss individual size blender...which is awesome and I would recommend to anyone.) Enjoy!

You could easily multiply this recipe by how many servings you want to make.

And it turned out like this! And it stayed like that until I finished consuming it. It was also the perfect amount of sweetness and just peanut buttery and chocolatey enough.

Nutrition Facts

  1 Serving
Amount Per Serving

  Calories 140.8  
  Total Fat 7.4 g     
    Saturated Fat 1.9 g     
    Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g     
    Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g  
  Cholesterol 0.0 mg  
  Sodium 192.9 mg  
  Potassium 199.1 mg  
  Total Carbohydrate 15.7 g     
    Dietary Fiber 1.8 g     
    Sugars 10.0 g  
  Protein 2.8 g