Cherry Nice Cream

Name: Cherry Nice Cream
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 0.75 Cups of Frozen Banana (see Note 1); 3.25 Cups of Frozen Cherries, Pitted; 6 Tablespoons Unsweetened Soy Milk (or any non-dairy milk); 1/4 Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips

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Cherry Nice Cream is a fun and fresh dessert that's bursting with cherry flavor! With only 4 ingredients, this nice cream is a non-dairy ice cream made with frozen bananas. Whether you make it in a food processor or a high-speed blender, you have a healthy yet sweet treat in just 5 minutes.

Hey Internet, we got another great nice cream recipe for you all today. Nice Cream, or banana ice cream, is a healthy dessert made by freezing bananas and then blending them up. The best part is you don't need an ice cream maker to get a cool and creamy dessert.

One really nice thing about nice cream is that there are so many different flavors that it can take on. Our Lavender Nice Cream has such a lovely light floral flavor to it, this Mango Nice Cream is so tangy, and this Toasted Coconut Nice Cream is a rich delight! The possibilities are endless.

We also just came out with a Protein Nice Cream which is truly delicious and loaded with protein. Oh, and who can forget our newest addition: Avocado Nice Cream! It's not made with bananas but it's really good too!

Today, we really wanted that super sweet flavor of cherries in a nice cream. Frozen cherries are easy to find and we had a huge pack from Costco (not sponsored). With the steady stream of ripe bananas we continually freeze during the summer, we had everything we need to make it.

Banana is NOT the dominant flavor in this recipe if you're worried. The cherry flavor is definitely dominant. Try to buy quality frozen organic cherries. We love the organic frozen cherries from Costco. Wyman's is also an excellent brand, but they tend to sell sweet cherries and tart cherries mixed together, so if you buy that brand you may want to pick around the tart cherries or use them and add a splash of maple syrup, agave, or vegan honey to the recipe.

And, boy, did it turn out to be a really easy recipe! With only 3 ingredients for the base, this is one of our easiest nice cream recipes. We decided to add chocolate chips for a fourth ingredient to make it a chocolate cherry nice cream, but it's really good without them too!

It's basically a healthy version of cherry garcia ice cream... I think we should call it cherry garcia nice cream, but for copyright reasons we should stick to Cherry Nice Cream, I think.

Why You'll Love Cherry Nice Cream

Fast and Easy: All you need is some frozen fruit and a splash of non-dairy milk for this vegan ice cream! You'll be ready to indulge your sweet tooth in 5-10 minutes.
Healthy Sweet Treat: This is a great soft serve style sweet treat with no added sugar! It uses mostly fruit and is wholesome. Instead of chocolate chips, you could do cacao nibs or chopped nuts as a topping.
Save for Later: We've found a way to easily bring nice cream back to it's creamy consistency. More on that in the Storage Instructions.
TOPPINGS: There's more toppings than just chocolate chips! Nuts or coconut flakes are a great choice for this nice cream.

Ingredients

Pick up these simple ingredients the next time you're at a grocery store. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredients, instructions, and accurate nutritional information (to the best of my ability; please consult your physician or healthcare professional if you have specific dietary needs). I give substitutions for the ingredients in the section below this one, so most people can still make this recipe!

0.75 Cups of Frozen Banana: This will get us the creaminess we need. It's easy to make your own frozen banana slices by cutting up ripe bananas. Make sure your bananas are really ripe, with spotty or browning skin. And remove the skin before freezing otherwise it's quite hard to remove when frozen. We like to chop our bananas in chunks to make the nice cream process easier.
3.25 Cups of Frozen Cherries, Pitted: The bag we got was just frozen sweet cherries. They are so sweet you really don't need any sweetener in this recipe.
6 Tablespoons Unsweetened Soy Milk: Soy Milk lends a light sweetness that goes well if this nice cream will helping with the creaminess. More importantly, it helps the blender do its job!
¼ Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips, Optional

Substitutions

Frozen Banana: Any sort of frozen creamy fruit would work, though the consistency may be quite different. Mango should work well. We just made an Avocado Nice Cream that turned out great, so freezing avocado cubes is an option. There is also frozen coconut that you might be able to find in stores.
Frozen Cherries: You could freeze your own fresh cherries, but you'll need a pitter so you can make the nice cream safely. You need pitted cherries because the pits are not edible.
Soy Milk: Almond milk and oat milk make for great replacements. If you want to go even creamier, canned coconut milk is a great option.
Dairy Free Chocolate Chips: They are just a topping. However, if you don't have any and want the flavor of cherry chocolate chip, you could add cocoa powder or a chocolate protein powder. Cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips are other good choices.

How To Make Cherry Nice Cream

Prep: If you don't have them already, you need to freeze a bunch of bananas. Peel and slice each banana into rounds. So they don't freeze together, place the rounds on a tray lined with parchment paper and put it in a freezer. Alternatively, you can toss them into a freezer bag if you don't mind having to break them apart.
Blend: To a high speed blender or food processor, add the frozen banana, frozen cherries, and soy milk. If using a high speed blender, blend for 90 seconds while using a tamper to push the frozen ingredients into the blades. Make "X" shaped motions to get everything smooth. Otherwise you may need to stop and scrape down the walls of your machine and re-blend a few times.
Serve: Add to a bowl and then top with the vegan chocolate chips. Fold them in and then enjoy.

Storage Instructions

Add the remaining cherry nice cream to a freezer-safe airtight container and add to freezer. Consider adding a fat like coconut milk (instead of the soy milk) or a tablespoon or two of raw cashew butter (other nut butters work but may influence the flavor) or soaked raw cashews to the mixture to help maintain the nice cream's smoothness as well as make scooping it later easier. If you don't add it, next time you want the nice cream let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes. Then, using a spoon, chop and stir the nice cream until its smoothness returns.

Expert Tips

If you want more banana flavor, simple adjust the the frozen ingredients by adding less cherries and more banana.
Try adding some frozen tart cherries! You can get some dimension with your flavors with a combination of cherries.
If your blender is still struggling, consider adding an additional splash of milk to help it along.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Sort of Toppings Could I Add?

Nuts, such as almonds, pecans, and walnuts, and coconut flakes will both pair well with the chocolate and cherry. You could also do a drizzle of nut butter, like peanut butter or almond butter. Or try our vegan chocolate sauce or the chocolate magic shell we use in our vegan ice cream cake! Coconut cacao granola is another great option.

Are There Any Flavors I Can Add to the Base?

Sure! You could add a pinch of vanilla extract to the blender. You could also try adding your favorite fruits as well. Just make sure they are frozen!

Why Should I Add Fats to the Nice Cream if I Intent to Store it?

Nice cream has a lot of water in it. Water by itself will form ice crystals while freezing, which will effect the smoothness. Adding a little bit of a fat like coconut milk, a tablespoon or two of soaked raw cashews, or a tablespoon or two of raw cashew butter will help prevent those crystals from forming. Other flavors of nut butter will work but they will influence the flavor of your cherry nice cream. Almond and cherry is a classic flavor combination so that could work in your favor.

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