CINNAMON & NUT BANANA ICE CREAM

Directions

1. Slice two bananas into small disks. Place in a freezer-safe container or a Ziploc freezer bag and freeze for at least 7 hours.
2. In a mini food processor, blend your nuts, salt, cinnamon, and coconut (if using) until the nuts are in little bits. Set aside.
3. Place frozen banana into your mini food processor (using a regular size food processor won't work unless you increase the number of bananas you are using). Holding on to the food processor firmly (its gonna get reeeeally shaky) turn it on and watch the magic!
4. The banana will go through several stages: First crumbly, then thickish, then it will start to look like a whipped soft serve ice cream texture.
5. Once the bananas get to be thickish, you will probably have to turn off (and unplug) your machine and mix the banana by hand to rearrange it in the mixer so that the blades can dig into the banana. Then continue to mix.
6. Once the bananas have turned into "ice cream" (Whoa-A!), add in the nut mixture you made earlier.
7. Blend again until all of the nuts are well incorporated. Turn the machine on and off in short bursts. Don't over mix or your "ice cream" will start to get very soft.
8. Either eat immediately OR place in a freezer safe glass container or loaf pan and seal tightly with plastic wrap and/or place the whole container into a Ziploc freezer bag. The longer you leave it in the freezer, the harder it will get. I like it after an hour. If you let it set overnight it will be really hard. Leave it on the counter for a short while and it will soften up.
9. To make the whipped cream, stir the vanilla into your thick Greek yogurt. This is not going to be a traditional sweet whipped cream, but it is the perfect pairing with the sweet banana.
10. For toppings I used fresh picked strawberries and grated a bar of 86% Ghiradelli chocolate with a microplane.