The Tragedy of the Fallen Ice Cream

Oh dear. It's the middle of August already. Apologies. Time seems to be getting away from me this month. It's been busy and shows no sign of letting up. 

In any case I decided to treat myself to an ice cream cone today. Unfortunately, as I was walking the rest of the way home, the scoop toppled from the cone mid-lick and landed on the sidewalk. I stared at it for a moment, had a bit of a resigned chuckle with a man standing in his driveway who saw the whole thing, and then continued on my way. It's just been that kind of day.

 

Up until the Tragedy of The Fallen Ice Cream (to which the incident will now be referred), I was enjoying it immensely. I have the good fortune of living down the street from Xococava (Cava's confectionery counterpart), which not only boasts some of the best chocolate in the city, but also serves a mean scoop of homemade ice cream.

Today's treat was peach and sour cream, smooth and tangy with bits of real peach scattered throughout. It was perfect for a hot day, especially during a month that so readily calls to mind the fresh flavour of peaches. 

Now I'm lamenting that fallen scoop all over again.

Anyway, I've been wanting to talk about Xococava's ice cream for a while now and, tragic mishaps aside, this seemed like a good opportunity. 

They have a substantial variety of both ice cream and sorbet that changes on a seasonal basis. The flavours are written on a chalk board behind the counter on the far right. If you have trouble choosing (and I almost guarantee you will), you can ask to sample some. And you'll likely want to make sure you're going to enjoy it at $4.20 for a small cone. So it's a little on the pricier side, but I promise it's worth it. And as you can see from the above picture, small is still pretty sizeable.

If peaches aren't your thing I'd also recommend the hazelnut caramel. It tastes like a higher quality Fererro Rocher smoothed into ice cream. My god it's good. There's also a chocolate Guinness cashew ice cream that has a lot going for it. If you're hanging around midtown on a hot day (or even a cold one), it's definitely worth a stop.

1560 Yonge St (corner of Yonge and Heath, just north of St. Clair)
(416)-979-9916
Mon to Sat 10 am to 10 pm
Sun 10 am to 9 pm

I scream, you scream

The other day while I was perusing Pinterest (as one is wont to do when there are countless other things that need to be done), I came across a recipe for single ingredient banana "ice cream". It is literally made with pureed frozen bananas and nothing else. Well, okay, with peanut butter and cocoa powder as well, if you choose to amp it up a bit, but you don't need to add those.

'What is this?' I thought. 'Ice cream made with just bananas? Guilt-free ice cream???' 

Oh yeah. 

And since it's just about the easiest thing in the world to make (does it even merit the word 'recipe'?) I tried it as soon as possible. And you know what? It's delicious! Definitely comparable to ice cream. The texture is a bit more gooey, for lack of a better word, but not in an off-putting way, and I'm nearly positive a kid wouldn't know the difference.

Let your bananas get just a bit spotty, but not so ripe that they're brown. Chop them (I used four here) and then freeze for about a couple hours. Do chop them; trying to puree a whole frozen banana will not be fun.

Now, if your blender is anything like mine (ie. the worst appliance known to mankind) I would suggest using a food processor. Actually, I suggest using a food processor anyway, I just don't have one. I'm going to have to rectify that soon so I can make endless batches of this without undue frustration. (Really, it's the worst.)

Once it's smooth and whipped up, and you've scraped the sides down ad infinitum, toss in some peanut butter and cocoa powder. Or you could just eat it as is. It's also good as plain banana, but I couldn't resist the temptation of chocolate and peanut butter. Plus, wouldn't you love to be getting potassium and protein out of your dessert?
 

Anyway, I just eye-balled the amount of peanut butter and cocoa powder, but if you follow the link at the beginning of the post, you'll get precise measurements.

It has something of a soft-serve consistency when it comes out of the blender. It's tasty just like that, and definitely easier to scoop, but four bananas worth of 'ice cream' is a bit much for one person, so you'll likely want to freeze the rest. Let it sit out a bit before scooping it because it's going to be pretty solid. Or if you're impatient, like me, just run your ice cream scoop under hot water.
 

I was actually really surprised by this. I assumed it would be good, but oh man, its similarity to ice cream is impressive. And you could eat this for breakfast, as part of your lunch, as a post-workout snack, because you're really just chowing down on some bananas. 

I still can't wrap my mind around it. This might take some time. And some different combinations: maybe add some strawberries; mangoes; coconut milk; orange juice; mix in some nuts or chocolate. This is definitely going to require an investment in a food processor.