The Nutella Challenge: Nana-Nutella Ice Cream

Well, technically not ice cream, but delicious nonetheless.

It all started with a re-tweet by princess_misia, one of the participants in The Nutella Challenge, hosted by Paula from bell'alimento. It stated: RT @thekitchn: How to make ice cream with only one ingredient (and no ice cream maker) - http://tr.im/simpleicecream.

Of course I was curious, so I clicked on the post. I wondered what the ingredient was. Yoghurt? Cream, as in Iced Cream?

No, nothing as simple as that. The secret ingredient? Bananas.

"Bananas?" you might be asking yourself. Well, yes it's true. Bananas. Frozen bananas to be precise. Now, you might think I froze some bananas in order to make the ice cream, but I actually had some on hand.


Er, eight, actually. I once heard that bananas, once they are over-ripe, are great in banana bread. And if you don't feel like making banana bread right there and then, you can just freeze them and thaw them when you need them for the bread. They are going to be mashed anyways, right?

Well, things never turn out that way. Of all the bananas I've ever frozen, I've probably used about six in Banana Bread. Most end up in milkshakes, or actually being thrown away whenever we need room in the freezer. So when I read this blog post, I thought, Oh I have to make this at some point.

It wasn't until Saturday, while worrying about my post for the Nutella Challenge did I put two and two together and decided to bring out the hand blender and the little jar of Nutella.


I did a test banana, just to make sure that it would actually work.


I really could not believe it! It was super sweet and even had the consistency of real ice cream.

Now, when I undertook the challenge I actually didn't realize that I pretty much only eat Nutella on bread. Exclusively on bread. I don't ever dip the spoon or poke my finger into the jar and just lick it. I'm more of a Nutella for breakfast on a great piece of bread kind of guy.

But here's the crazy thing, and the reason I mixed the Nutelly in. I love- absolutely love sliced bananas on my Nutella covered toast. My colleagues may think I am a bit nutty, particularly since I keep a small jar of Nutella on my desk at work, but I love the taste of the chocolate, nuts and the bananas. It's like a mini banana split. On bread.


So, I had no idea what to do. I figured I would just swirl it in and see what happened. I made up the proportion, 1 banana to 1 Tablespoon of Nutella. Or, for eight bananas, a half cup.


As the Nutella approached freezing temperature, it thickened and formed what I can only describe as a hazelnut chocolate fudge. It was thick and slightly chewy.

I put it back in the freezer for about two hours for the ice cream to become a bit more cold, as it was already starting to melt after being stirred for a bit.


This bowl, pictured above, is actually my second bowl of the ice cream. I sort of ate the first one. It was delicious, even though I'm not really an ice cream freak, and the nutella swirls had the consistency of fudge. Yummy!

The Recipe? Easy.

Nana-Nutella Ice Cream

2 frozen bananas, peeled
2 Tablespoons Nutella

Put the bananas in a hand blender safe cup and blitz until they are pureed. Believe me, this will go quick. Take your two tablespoons Nutella and swirl it in until the Nutella becomes bits within the ice cream. Either enjoy immediately or freeze for two hours and then serve. And then enjoy!

You can double or triple this recipe or even add more nutella to it. Either way, it combines my two loves, bananas and Nutella.

For more Nutella recipes, be sure to visit bell'alimento's Nutella Challenge page.