These frozen banana “ice cream” peanut butter cups are truly the perfect sweet bite. These were inspired by a cross between a Reece’s peanut butter cup and ice cream Bonbons. Two of my childhood favorites.
These are basically like the best of both worlds, with a healthier twist and of course vegan. They’re healthy enough to snack on during the day or have a sweet bite or two after dinner.
Made using minimal whole food ingredients, it shows that you don’t need a lot of ingredients to make delicious desserts.
For the peanut butter cup aspect, I made a vegan peanut butter cookie dough. Which, you could also just eat on it’s own. It’s packed with protein and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Any leftover cookie dough I have I just roll into balls and pop them in the freezer. They’re delicious!
Peanut Free Option
If you can’t have peanuts, you can still enjoy this dessert. Just substitute the peanut butter with tahini or sunflower butter! Both of these nut butters have a similar taste to peanut butter so I often use these as alternatives in my cooking and baking.
Perfecting the Bonbon
Bonbons are essentially chocolate filled with something. I grew up eating ice cream Bonbons and absolutely loved them. I love anything bite sized because they are more to eat. The chocolate shell allows for the perfect amount of chocolate.
To achieve the Bonbon shape, I used these silicon chocolate molds. These make it really easy to put the perfect bite together, I use them to make healthy variations of chocolate.
The great thing about this recipe is it is stored in the freezer so you can make a bunch to have on hand.
MY SECRET INGREDIENT: CAROB “CHOCOLATE”
Another favorite product I use in these are Better Carob Bars! I use this in lieu of chocolate in most of my baking since I don’t assume much caffeine.
For those that don’t know, chocolate is caffeine. This is something I didn’t realize until years ago. Personally when I cut out caffeine it made a big difference in my health.
As I have an adrenal condition I learned how much caffeine taxes these adrenals and there are so many natural alternatives but once we become dependent on it we feel more and more like we need it.
Carob tastes just like chocolate and actually has incredible nutritional value. It is very high in calcium and those who get migraines from a compound found cacao, can enjoy carob! I love adding carob into my cooking and baking because I know it’s also beneficial to my health with folic acid and numerous vitamins. Including zinc and B vitamins. There is even some B12 in carob!
Carob is great for skin health and is often found in chocolates for diabetics as it doesn’t spike your blood sugar like traditional chocolate. I use all the flavors for various recipes and to create a chocolate shell in this recipe I add a little refined coconut oil.
I use the milk chocolate or dark chocolate bars in this recipe.
An Easy Whole Food Alternative to Ice Cream
The ice cream component is basically nice cream. I started putting peeled bananas in the freezer when I was in high school to have as a snack after a workout. Paired with some nut or seed nutter it’s really yummy and easy to make. I was surprised how creamy frozen banana was so I love using it as the “ice cream” component in these vegan peanut butter cup bonbons!
Frozen Banana Peanut Butter Cups
Equipment
- 1 Silicon chocolate mold linked above
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
- 1 cup fine almond flour bobs red mill
- 1/4 cup smooth creamy peanut butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup carob or chocolate bar, chopped into small bits
- 1/4 tsp flakey salt sub sea salt
Remaining ingredients
- 1/2 banana, sliced into half inch pieces frozen
- 1 carob or chocolate bar melted
- 2 tsp refined coconut oil melted
Instructions
- Sliced about half a banana into 1/2 inch pieces. You will need 6 pieces. Freeze for 3 hours for best results
- Into a food processor, combine almond flour, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt and pulse into forms a crumbly dough. Add in chopped carob or chocolate bits and pulse a few times
- Remove the cookie dough onto a plate or cutting board and use your hands to form into a ball of dough.
- Into your chocolate molds, place a few tsp of dough into each circle and cover with the dough, forming little hallow half circles. *see notes if you don't have the mold*
- Then place a frozen banana piece into each one. Top the frozen banana with the cookie dough, filling in any gaps.
- Once they are covered, without any gaps (use your hands to press down until firm) place them into the freezer. Freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Then melt your carob or chocolate bar with 2 tsp of coconut oil in a small pan or microwave. Mix together until combined.
- Remove your cookie dough bites from the freezer and coat them in the chocolate. Place on a cooling rack or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Top each with a pinch of flakey salt if you like.
- The chocolate will harden in about a minute. If you're in a warm climate, pop them in the freezer for a minute.
- Enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container in the freezer.
Notes
If you enjoy these frozen banana peanut butter cups, check out these easy dessert recipes:
I just made these and was thrilled to find a more delicious and nutritionally rich alternative to the “unhealthy” versions that I grew up with. Guilt free and extra yummy! Thank you!!