Cashew Banana Ice Cream

photo credit: alaskavegan.wordpress.com

From eat, drink & be vegan.  wheat-free, gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free

3 cups frozen sliced bananas (4–5 medium bananas) (see notes)
1/3 - ½ cup cashew butter (raw cashew butter is especially good; also try a combo of almond butter and macadamia nut butter)
1/8 tsp sea salt
2-4 tbsp pure maple syrup (sweeten as desired; see note)

In a food processor, process bananas until they are roughly chopped. Add cashew butter, salt, and syrup (starting with 2-3 tablespoons) and purée until very smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Taste test, adding remaining syrup if desired. Serve immediately, and store leftovers in the freezer. (This ice cream freezes well, being easy to scoop again within a few minutes after removing from the freezer. In fact, I prefer to freeze it to reharden the ice cream somewhat before digging in!)

Notes:

1) When I have overripe bananas, I slice them, measure 3 cups to a container or ziploc bag, then store in the freezer so they are readily available to make this ice cream.

2) The more overripe your bananas, the sweeter this ice cream will be. Also, softer ice cream is sweeter to our tastebuds than hard, frozen ice cream, so you can adjust sweetness to taste with the maple syrup. (don't omit the salt, it enhances the sweetness and also rounds out the overall flavors.)

3) You can modify this ice cream as you like. I prefer the simplicity of bananas and cashews, but you could add vanilla extract (or paste), almond extract, cinnamon, and/or nutmeg. Also, try pulsing in some raw cashews or macadamia nuts, or some chocolate chips.