Banana Nice Cream With Cookie Dough

why we love this cookie dough nice cream

This recipe is basically a healthy version of cookie dough ice cream that could honestly be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! It’s a great way to use up extra bananas too. Y

The edible cookie dough is dairy-free, eggless, and vegan friendly and tastes just like Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough chunks that I always find myself trying to dig out of the ice cream tub. I’ve also included substitutions to make an equally delicious gluten-free version of the edible cookie dough.

what is nice cream?

Before we begin, let’s talk about what in the world nice cream is. If you’ve never heard of nice cream, it’s short for banana ice cream!

It’s made with just 2 ingredients- frozen bananas and some type of milk (dairy-free in our case). By whipping or blending frozen bananas, you can create a healthy, incredibly creamy, sugar-free, and dairy-free ice cream base!

why this recipe works

You don’t need an ice cream maker to create this recipe, so it’s completely no-churn. However, you will need a powerful blender or a food processor.

I prefer to use my mini food processor that came with my immersion blender. It’s the perfect size for 2-3 servings, it takes less time to blend everything up, and it’s easier to get all the nice cream out of the container (as opposed to a deep blender jar).

This recipe uses frozen, slightly ripened bananas which are already sweet and coconut milk to create the healthy, dairy-free ice cream base.

When blended together, the coconut milk helps balance the banana taste and creates a smooth creamy, dreamy texture.

nice cream faq

How ripe should the bananas be?

To help minimize the banana taste, I prefer using bananas that are just starting to ripen. The bananas are still a lighter yellow and only have a few spots on them (versus dark yellow and very spotty bananas).

What does this banana nice cream taste like?

This nice cream has a subtle banana flavor (if you use the bananas mentioned above), with hints of vanilla and creamy coconut. The cookie dough provides bursts of chocolatey sweetness.

Why does the flour for the cookie dough need to be heat treated?

All-purpose flour is raw and can have harmful bacteria in it like E. coli. Because we aren’t baking the cookie dough, it’s important to heat treat it by zapping it in the microwave or baking it for a few minutes before mixing it into the dough. This kills the bacteria and makes it safe to eat! If you’d rather not heat treat the flour, you can use oat flour made from rolled oats.

Can this cookie dough be made into cookies?

This cookie dough doesn’t have any leavening agents in it, so I don’t recommend using it to bake cookies.

Is a food processor or a blender better for banana ice cream?

For this recipe, I prefer to use my mini food processor that came with my immersion blender. It’s the perfect size for 2-3 servings, it takes less time to blend everything up than a full-sized food processor. It’s also easier to get all the ice cream out of the container (as opposed to a deep blender jar).