The excuse to make banana ice cream is one of the few good things about bananas getting on the old side. You can make it just fine with fresh banana, but old ones need to get used up. Something that tastes like ice cream, yet is almost entirely made of fruit makes a pretty amazing treat. After looking in the fridge, I decided that this batch of bananas would be made into raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream.

I have been fortunate enough lately to find fresh raspberries at my local dollar store. Those little containers that cost a couple bucks most of the time at the regular grocery store are only $1 at the dollar store. The one by me carries lots of produce, and it’s usually a better price than what you’d pay at the grocery store. Most of the time it’s plenty fresh. I’ve seen the occasional exception, sadly, but in general, they’re very good about their produce.

I love getting berries there. My kids gobble them up. It’s nice being able to give them a healthy treat at a good price.

We get some unusual berries there too. We tried kiwiberries from there one time. They do in fact look like miniature kiwifruits without the fuzz. They’re a little more tart too. Overall, I’ll stick with regular kiwifruits because you get more for your money.

Back to the raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream.

We’ve had a really warm fall, and my youngest was complaining that she wanted ice cream. I wasn’t in the mood to go to the store, but we had four bananas sitting out and getting on the old side. One of me, three kids… sounded about right.

We sliced up the bananas and spread them out on the cutting board to go into the freezer. Took them out a couple hours later and threw them into my Vitamix.

Now, I’ve made banana ice cream in my dinky food processor before, and I have to say that I like that method better overall. I used my Vitamix this time because my food processor is really, really small, and can only work on about a banana at a time. That’s no good when you have kids wanting their treats now. So I used the Vitamix.

I prefer the food processor because it’s easier to pulse it. Banana ice cream is hard on a blender. You can do it, but you have to make sure to pulse the blender. Turning the Vitamix on and off isn’t that much harder than pulsing a blender, but it’s just a little annoying to me. It was also a lot harder to get all the bananas into the mix. I think that’s a volume problem.

The blended bananas have to be knocked down a lot when you’re mixing a bunch of them. By the time I was ready to add in the raspberries, I decided to finish the job off by hand.

This turned out to be a really good idea. I put the banana ice cream into a plastic container, then added the fresh raspberries and chocolate chips. No need to freeze the raspberries first – I wanted them to break up just a little.

This worked out beautifully. The raspberries broke up just enough and froze as I mixed. The chocolate chips behaved like chocolate chips. The mix looked beautiful.

The real test, of course, was the kids. Me too, I suppose, but kids can be picky.

My older two loved the ice cream. They want to make this again and again.

My youngest, the one who was begging for ice cream? Hated it. She loves bananas. She loves raspberries. She loves chocolate. And she’s just contrary enough to not like the combination. That’s kids for you. Raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream was decidedly not to her taste. She took a few bites, then gave the rest to her sister.

I’ll gladly make this again sometime regardless of one child’s opinion. I thought it was wonderful.

3.11 from 2606 votes

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Raspberry Chocolate Chip Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 1 handful fresh raspberries
• 1-2 tbsp chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Peel and slice bananas, one per serving. Spread slices out on cutting board and place in freezer for at least 2-3 hours.

2. Remove frozen bananas from freezer. Pour into food processor. Pulse food processor until banana ice cream is smooth. You may need to knock it down off the sides regularly.

3. Remove banana ice cream from food processor and place in a container with enough room for mixing.

4. Add raspberries and chocolate chips. These measurements aren't precise. Throw in what looks good to you.

5. Mix with a spoon thoroughly. Be a little gentle so that you don't completely break up the raspberries. They should break up some but not entirely.

6. Serve immediately. This will not go well if you put the raspberry chocolate chip banana ice cream back into the freezer.

Blood… blood everywhere. And those eyes. Awful, awful eyes!

Wait, nope, that’s not it. It’s an eye scream sundae. A silly little dessert for Halloween or any other time you want dessert to look just a little bit disturbing. It may well be greeted with screams of delight.

Crushed raspberries make delicious and lumpy fake blood. Homemade chocolate shell, like the Magic Shell you can buy at the store, holds the eyes in place. Delicious ice cream to make the whole thing worthwhile.

I used store bought ice cream because it’s so much easier. Pick a flavor that will taste good with the raspberries, but otherwise it’s up to your preferences. I chose Dreyer’s Double Fudge Brownie this time because chocolate and more chocolate.

I chose gummy eyes because the local dollar store has them out for Halloween. They’re on the large side, but delicious if you like gummy candy. You could also use the little Wilton eyes if you can’t find gummy ones anywhere. Use a bunch and you could make a great monster.

It’s easy to make this for one or for several. I’m giving directions for one, but measurements really aren’t that precise. It’s an Eye Scream Sundae. Have fun with it and don’t worry about precision.

Eye Scream Sundae Instructions

Prepare your homemade chocolate shell. Melt about a quarter cup of chocolate chips with about a teaspoon of coconut oil in the microwave in 30 second increments. Stir between rounds. When the mix is smooth from stirring, it’s ready. Put aside.

Place a quarter cup, more or less, of raspberries into a small bowl. Mash with a spoon. You want them well smashed, but still a little lumpy. The grosser they look, the better.

Slice a banana in half across the middle, then lengthwise for each part. Slice each quarter in half lengthwise. These are for decorative spikes.

Stack two scoops of ice cream into your dish. A little height works nicely to give you room to work.

Stick the banana spikes around the ice cream. Be careful – they may break easily. Tuck any broken ones in the back or come up with a fun placement for them. A spike in the “head” might work out, but I didn’t try that one.

Pour chocolate shell all over the ice cream. Place gummy eyes onto the chocolate shell and hold in place 15-30 seconds so the shell solidifies and holds the eyes in place.

Pour the crushed raspberries all over your poor victim… ice cream. I meant to say ice cream. Serve.

3.14 from 234 votes

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Eye Scream Sundae

Servings: 1 person

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chocolate shell see below
• 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 banana
• 2 scoops ice cream
• 2 gummy eyes

Homemade Chocolate Shell Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Instructions

1. Place raspberries in a small bowl. Use a spoon to smash them until they are well smashed but somewhat lumpy. Gross is good.

2. Slice the banana in half across the middle as well as lengthwise. Slice each quarter into halves lengthwise to form spikes.
   

3. Place two scoops of ice cream into serving dish, one scoop on top of the other.
   

4. Place banana "spikes" decoratively around the ice cream. Have fun with it.
   

5. Pour chocolate shell all over ice cream.
   

6. Quickly stick gummy eyes into chocolate shell, before it hardens. Hold in place for 15-30 seconds so that the shell hardens and holds the eyes in place.
   

7. Pour crushed raspberry "blood" all over your creation. Serve.
   

Homemade Chocolate Shell

1. Place chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl.

2. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is completely melted, stirring between rounds. Add more coconut oil if you find the mix is too thick.
   

Raspberry and chocolate are two flavors that go very well together. They’re one of my favorite combinations. These raspberry chocolate chunks are very easy to make, even on a moment’s notice.

The key ingredient is freeze dried raspberries. I find these at Target or on Amazon. Using freeze dried raspberries means you don’t have to worry about spoilage. Melting chocolate, perhaps, but not spoiled raspberries.

Freeze dried raspberries have a wonderful taste. The freeze drying process brings out the flavor perfectly.

The first thing to do is break up the raspberries. The whole ones are a bit too much raspberry in one spot, in my opinion.

Pour the freeze dried raspberries into a ziploc bag. Seal it. Then take a smooth kitchen mallet and start tapping on them.

Don’t go too wild on this. You don’t want a powder. You want small pieces and no whole raspberries. There will be some powder, and that’s fine. Keep it to a minimum.

Melt your chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave or use a double boiler. Stir regularly. I use a semi-sweet chocolate for these because not all of my kids like their chocolate dark. They go well with just about any kind of chocolate.

Once the chocolate is completely melted, stir in the broken up raspberries. Mix well.

You can put these into molds if you want a nice shape, or spoon into chunks. You may want a little more chocolate in the mix if you’re using detailed molds, as the raspberries won’t flow well into small details of the molds.

Refrigerate until solid.

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Crunchy Raspberry Chocolate Chunks

Ingredients

• 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup freeze dried raspberries

Instructions

1. Pour freeze dried raspberries into ziplock bag. Seal.

2. Tap lightly with smooth kitchen mallet until whole raspberries are broken up. Do not pound into a powder.

3. Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between segments, until smooth. Alternatively, melt chocolate in double boiler, stirring until smooth.

4. Combine raspberries and chocolate. Mix thoroughly.

5. Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Spoon small batches onto paper to make chunks.

6. Alternatively, spoon mix into candy molds. Tap mold to fill details. You may need slightly more chocolate in the mix to fill the mold details well. If you want a smooth back, do not fill completely with raspberry chocolate mix. Use melted chocolate to top off the mold.

7. Refrigerate until solid.