It’s time for another super easy banana ice cream. This time, it’s chocolate banana ice cream. Simple, delicious and healthy. It’s a combination we all adore.

I’ve shared my recipes for chocolate mint banana ice cream and for chocolate chip raspberry banana ice cream before. This one is much easier, as you probably have all the ingredients on hand.

If you don’t have any frozen banana slices, make some first. Slice a ripe banana, spread out the slices on the cutting board, and freeze for at least an hour. Waiting for them to freeze is the longest part of the recipe.

If you have previously frozen banana slices, and they’ve been in the freezer for more than a day, take them out of the freezer and defrost for 5-10 minutes. They’ll blend better this way. You don’t need to defrost banana slices that haven’t been in the freezer that long. They’ll be fine.

Put about a banana and a half’s worth of slices per person in your food processor. Don’t try to make a huge batch – you can’t refreeze this ice cream. It will solidify too hard if you do. Banana ice cream is something you make because you want it right now, not later.

Add about a tablespoon of ground chocolate or chocolate drink mix. The better the quality, the better the banana ice cream will turn out. I like to use Ghirardelli’s ground chocolate. I keep the big container on hand because it makes good hot chocolate too. You could probably make this work with Ovaltine or Quik, but I haven’t tested them. Their chocolate flavors aren’t strong enough for me.

Use the food processor on the pulse setting. Running it too long will be too hard on the motor. Besides, the bits of banana will climb out of the reach of the blades, and you have to knock them down sometimes. Keep this up until the chocolate banana ice cream is smooth.

Serve immediately. You can add toppings if you want, or drop a bit of fruit in at the very end so that you get chunks of fruit in your ice cream.

I have just one kid who doesn’t love this. It’s strange. She loves bananas. She loves frozen bananas. And she loves chocolate. But she doesn’t like chocolate banana ice cream. I don’t get it. But since the rest of my kids adore this, I’ll keep making it. The one who doesn’t like it can snack on the frozen banana slices.

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Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 frozen bananas, sliced
• 1 tbsp ground chocolate

Instructions

1. If your bananas have not already been frozen and sliced, slice them, put the slices on a cutting board, and freeze for at least one hour.

2. If your bananas have been frozen for more than a day, take them out of the freezer and defrost for 5-10 minutes before proceeding.

3. Place frozen banana slices in food processor, approximately one and a half banana's worth per person. Do not make more than you plan to serve immediately.

4. Add one tablespoon of ground chocolate per person.

5. Use the pulse setting of the food processor to blend the bananas. Knock down the bits that climb out of the range of the blades. Continue pulsing food processor until chocolate banana ice cream is smooth.

6. Optional: Add choice of fruit chunks and give a quick pulse of the food processor to add to ice cream.

7. Serve immediately. Leftovers do not freeze well.

Milkshakes are a lot of fun to make, and so easy! The trend right now is absurdly huge milkshakes, with so much other stuff on them that it’s hard to eat the whole thing. Fun, if really, really unhealthy. My mint chocolate monster milkshake doesn’t have as many extras on it as some do, but it’s still fun.

One of the great things to remember about these milkshakes is that you can always make them smaller. Use a small cup, and you can have the fun without so much excess. It also means better portions for kids.

But if you need the whole thing once in a while, go for it. Nothing wrong with indulging yourself occasionally.

These milkshakes have chocolate sauce in the cup and chocolate around the rim to hold some candy decorations. A cookie with a gummy eye on it gives it a little bit of a monster look. If your shake is thick enough, this will sit nicely on top.

Start out by freezing the glasses you want to use for your milkshakes. This will make decorating them easier later on.

Melt chocolate in a bowl big enough to dip the tops of the glasses in. Use 30 second increments in the microwave, and stir between rounds. Allow chocolate to cool but not solidify before dipping glasses in the chocolate. You don’t want to shock the frozen glass and make it crack. Add any decorations to the edges of the glasses before the chocolate solidifies, and return to the freezer. Sprinkles are easiest – pour them into a bowl and dip the top of the cup. I chose some Halloween candies, which was a bit more work but I like how they look.

Take one cookie for each shake you plan on making and put a dab of chocolate on top. Place a gummy eye on the chocolate. Refrigerate the cookies to solidify the chocolate.

Defrost your ice cream for about 10 minutes. This makes it easier to blend with less milk. You’ll get a thicker shake this way.

I used mint chocolate ice cream. You can use any flavor, of course. Vanilla is the most common, and then you can add in flavors for whatever you want it to be. I chose mint chocolate because blending it gives a kind of murky green-brown color that I felt was a good choice for a monster milkshake. I also love the flavor.

You want about a quarter cup of milk for every three scoops of ice cream. If it’s not blending well, you can add more milk, but too much milk will make the shake runny. Add in any flavors you want. Blend until smooth.

Prepare the glasses. Remove them from the freezer and drip chocolate sauce around the inside.

Pour the milkshake into glasses. If you’re putting the cookie on top, the monster milkshake will need to be very close to the rim. Serve immediately.

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Mint Chocolate Monster Milkshake

Ingredients

• 3 scoops chocolate mint ice cream or any other flavor
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• chocolate syrup
• 1 cookie
• 1 gummy eye

Instructions

1. Please note that ingredients are per serving. Ice cream and milk are approximate - just how big do you want the shakes to be?

2. Freeze serving glasses.

3. Melt chocolate in a bowl big enough to dip the tops of the glasses in. Use 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring between rounds until smooth. Allow to cool but not solidify. You do not want to shock the frozen glasses, as they could crack if the temperature difference is too great.

4. Dip tops of cups in melted chocolate.

5. Dip tops of cups in sprinkles or add small candies by hand. Return glasses to freezer.

6. Place a dollop of chocolate on the cookie. Put gummy eye on top of the chocolate. Refrigerate to solidify the chocolate.

7. Defrost ice cream for about 10 minutes to soften.

8. Scoop ice cream into blender. Add milk and any other desired flavors. Blend until smooth.

9. Remove glasses from freezer and drizzle chocolate sauce along the insides.

10. Pour milkshake into glass. Stand cookie at the top of the glass. Serve.