Nice Cream is one of the best things ever. Fact. But what exactly is nice cream, I hear you cry? Essentially its a healthy, banana-based alternative to ice cream, which happens to also be delicious and super easy and quick to make. Using frozen bananas ensures a magically creamy and deliciously good-for-you frozen treat.
Nana Nice Cream was launched in the UK by Margie Broadhead, a professional chef and food blogger with a simple mission: to make great tasting food that actually does you good. This is shown by the fact that our pots of (ba)nana nice cream count as one of your five a day; they are dairy-free, have no preservatives and are completely natural. Bananas also happen to be ridiculously good for you. They are bursting with potassium, and full of energy.
Whilst our exact award-winning recipe remains a heavily guarded secret, the good news is there are lots of variations and nice cream is really fun to make at home. It is wonderfully simple to whip up. You dont require superhuman powers in the kitchen, nor do you need a fancy ice-cream maker or any specialist equipment. You just need to love bananas.
We at Nana Nice Cream like to think of ourselves as aficionados in the art of making nice cream, so we have put together some useful tips to guide you on your journey ( ).
One of the joys of nice cream is the sheer versatility. The flavour possibilities are endless, and you can really let your imagination run wild. We love it just as it is, straight from the blender, but we also love having it for breakfast in a ). And, of course, we love it for pudding, drizzled with chocolate, layered between cakes or just licked off a spoon.
We hope you enjoy using this book as inspiration and, most of all, we hope you have fun with the recipes that follow.
LETS TALK THE BASICS
There are two types of nice cream in this book. One is a soft-serve version, which you can whip up in an instant and enjoy straight away. The other is frozen and more akin to traditonal ice cream. It is whipped up in the same manner as the soft-serve version but then given a blast in the freezer to firm up so that you can scoop it (just as you would a regular ice cream).
Both versions are just as good and incredibly simple to make. Go with whichever you prefer for whatever the occasion. Its up to you to experiment and just have fun.
Use ripe bananas that are ideally at the stage just before they turn really spotty and overripe. It gives a better overall taste to nice creams, and they are a lot easier for your body to digest.
All the recipes in this book that list peeled and frozen bananas assume they are prepared using the freezing method on the opposite page.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Our preferred tool of choice for blending the nice creams is a food processor. If you have a high-speed blender, this is also a good option. Of course, if you have an ice-cream maker, then by all means add your blended mix to the machine to chill it, while it whips a bit of extra air into it this will no doubt make it even better but please dont fret if you dont have one.
Have fun with the lollipops and all the moulds and sticks that you can get! But again, please dont worry if you dont have all the right equipment. Recycled yoghurt pots make great popsicle moulds, as do little jelly moulds, ice cube trays and loaf tins. As for lolly sticks, you dont need anything too specialised: staws, wooden forks and spoons work brilliantly. For something more fun (and edible) why not try liquorice or even pretzel sticks!
Although our completely healthy nice creams are amazing, it is important to remember that they arent ice creams in the traditional sense and so need to be treated a little differently. Vegan ice creams in general require a bit more thawing than store-bought sugar-laden ice creams. This just means that the nice creams need to sit out of the freezer for about 15 minutes before serving. This will give them a chance to become lovely and scoopable.
Its also worth pointing out that nice creams are best if not left to wallow for too long in the freezer.