Banana Sherbet: Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts

This is the very similar to the lychee frozen yogurt, but it's from Alice Medrich's Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, not Josée di Stasio's A la di Stasio. I like lychee more than banana but the creaminess of the banana is a nicer texture. You also don't need to use such a high fat yogurt (or so much of the yogurt) as di Stasio recommended for the lychees because the texture comes from the bananas, AND it's perfect for bananas that are about to get too brown to eat. You can also freeze the bananas at this point and then use them later with no negative consequences. The skins will brown and look bad, but the inside will be fine. Just let them thaw and then stick them in the food processor or blender like below.

There's no chocolate in this recipe, but a chocolate syrup over top would be perfectly indulgent...kind of like a banana split.

Why has it been snowing in Montreal? It should be Spring. Patio season and ice cream. Hopefully the next time I make this there will be no freak snow storms to crush my Spring-related joy.

Ingredients
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup plain yogurt (2% is a good compromise, but you can use 3.8% or fat-free if you like)
sugar to taste, about 3 tbsp (bananas are very, very sweet, and if you use a high-fat yogurt you won't need to sweeten the bitterness of the fat-free versions)
1-2 tbsp rum (optional. You can use a 1/2 tsp of rum extract if you prefer, or skip it all together)
1/2 tsp vanilla (1 tsp if you skipped the rum)

Instructions
Stick these things in a blender or food processor. Turn it on to purée. Turn it off to stop. Scrape down the sides if necessary and re-purée until smooth. Pour into ice cube trays or a resealable plastic freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer for about 6 hours, or until the mixture freezes slightly. Then pour it back into the blender in chunks and re-process. Pour into an old ice cream or yogurt container, or any kind of container that can go in the freezer, and re-freeze. This sherbet scoops much better than the lychee frozen yogurt, and as long as you love banana cough syrup or strong banana flavour, you'll love this. No other fruit really works like banana because of the creaminess.

It's kind of annoying trying to get all the mixture out of the blender, because it likes to get stuck and a spoon doesn't really fit well around the blades, so be patient. Also, make sure the mixture isn't too hard when you try to re-purée it or it'll hurt your blender or just won't work. Let it soften a bit and try again. It's not the end of the world if you get frustrated and leave it half-puréed and stick it in the freezer to re-harden. It'll be good enough.

I think you could probably even get away with making this recipe with milk instead of yogurt. It wouldn't be as creamy, but soy milk, almond milk, rice milk or regular milk would probably all work. There's so little yogurt called for, and the bananas will make the sherbet creamy anyway. Good luck! Dream of sun and flowers and heat. The whole "cold hands, warm heart" thing is getting ridiculous. I would really like my fingers to not feel like ice one of these days.