Brigadeiro Banana Nice Cream
Frozen banana blended into silky chocolate soft-serve, sweetened by fruit alone, Brazilian brigadeiro style.
Best for A rich chocolate hit sweetened only by ripe fruit, with potassium and fibre built in
This is the vegan, fruit-sweetened answer to Brazil's beloved brigadeiro, rebuilt as a soft-serve you scoop straight from the blender. Frozen ripe bananas do all the work: they whip into a dense, glossy chocolate cream with no added sugar, no dairy and no ice-cream machine. It tastes like the inside of a warm chocolate truffle, only cold, and it comes together in the time it takes to clear the counter.
Ingredients
- 4 Very ripe bananas , sliced into coins and frozen solid, at least 4 hours
- 25 g Unsweetened cacao powder , plus extra for dusting
- 45 ml Unsweetened plant milk , cold, added a splash at a time
- 5 ml pure vanilla extract
- 1 g fine sea salt , a small pinch, to lift the chocolate
- 15 g Dark chocolate 70% , to finish (optional – can be omitted)
- 10 g cacao nibs , to finish, for crunch (optional – can be omitted)
Instructions
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1
Take the frozen banana coins out of the freezer and let them sit for 3 to 4 minutes, just until a knife tip meets slight give. This short thaw keeps your blender motor happy and gets you a smoother cream.
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2
Add the bananas, cacao powder, vanilla and salt to a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend in short pulses, stopping to scrape down the sides, and add the plant milk a splash at a time — only as much as you need to keep the blades moving. You are aiming for a thick, glossy soft-serve, not a smoothie, so resist over-adding liquid.
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3
Blend for a final 30 seconds until the mixture turns dense, dark and satiny and holds a soft peak on the spatula. Scoop into chilled bowls straight away for soft-serve, or pack into a loaf tin and freeze for 1 to 2 hours if you prefer a scoopable, firmer set.
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4
Finish each bowl with shaved dark chocolate, a scatter of cacao nibs and a light dusting of cacao. Serve immediately, as this fruit-only cream softens fast in summer heat.