Cinnamon roll soft serve

The next N'ice cream creation I wanted to test out was something that had to do with frozen bananas. As the Monkey madness ice cream I made, sold and devoured on Koh Phangan was such an amazing step into the land of banana ice cream, I couldn't wait to take one step further. Since cinnamon is one of my all time favourite spices (along with turmeric and ginger) and I absolutely adore cinnamon rolls, the choice was pretty easy. Cinnamony soft serve! How could that be bad?

So off to the work I went. My mom's new blender didn't co-operate with the frozen bananas as well as the food processor back on KPG, so the consistency became quite thin as I had to blend it for a while to get all the bananas to let go of their solid form. I stuck the mass into the freezer for a while to think about things and wait for its fate. Quite cruel, I know, but sometimes needs must.

Runny, cold things have always had a special place in my heart. Let's take a trip down memory lane. When I was a kid, my favourite kind of ice cream treat consisted of banana slices, vanilla ice cream, heaps and heaps of caramel sauce and sprinkles. Nothing earth shattering here, I know, but wait, it gets better. The best part was to mush the ice cream and bananas and let it melt into a runny, vanilla-caramelly goo. An ice cream soup! I was a genious already as a kid, apparently :D

Back to today: This cinnamon creation wasn't as runny as my childhood treat, but it was good nonetheless. The only thing I'd do differently next time would be to wait for the bananas to ripen a little more. Now the ice cream tasted mainly of slightly too yellow bananas, while the other subtle flavours were a bit lost. And maybe add more cinnamon. There can never be too much cinnamon! But it was still so good we gobbled it up with my mom in no time.

Cinnamon roll soft serve

Recipe from the lovely N'ice cream bible
2 servings


Cinnamon roll mixture

1/2 dl almonds

1/2 dl pecans

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon (add more for a fuller flavour)

1/2 tsp ground cardamom (same here, I'd say it's safe to add more)

5 fresh dates, pitted

1/2 dl water


Ice cream

3 ripe bananas, chopped and frozen

3 tbsp coconut milk

1 tsp vanilla extract/powder


Add almonds, pecans, cinnamon and cardamom into a blender and blend into a fine crumble. Add one date and blend some more. Scrape half of the mixture into a bowl (the mixture should be dry but formable. Mine was more on the crumbly side, so maybe I should have added one more date).

Add the rest of the dates and water into the blender (the remaining half of the cinnamon mixture is already waiting for company there) and blend into an even paste. This worked better with a hand mixer than a blender. Scrape the mixture into another bowl.

Wash and dry the blender. Add frozen bananas, coconut milk and vanilla and blend into a soft serve. You might have to scrape the sides of the blender jug with a spoon a couple of times before the mass will have the right consistency. Scrape the ice cream mixture into the bowl that has the softer cinnamon roll mixture and stir. Divide into bowls and sprinkle crumbles of the drier mass on top. Serve and enjoy!

Strawberry rhubarb N'ice cream

Two of my favourite bloggers, the lovely ladies behind Tuulia and Vanelja, have written this summer's tastiest and prettiest cookbook: N'Ice cream / Hyvän olon jäätelökirja. The book is ooze full of amazing ice cream recipes, free of dairy, gluten and refined sugar. Ice cream that not only looks picture perfect but makes you feel good as well. What's not to love? I already got the book as an e-book and used it as an inspiration for my Monkey madness ice cream, but of course I had to get the hard copy as well, because it's insanely beautiful.

As a lucky coincidence (no coercion on my part, I swear!), mom just got a brand new blender, so it was only a matter of time when the first "real" batch of ice cream got made. And since it's me we're talking about here, it didn't take long at all. The only difficulty was to choose which one of the wonderful recipesgot tested first. That was a hard one! But since we already got some rhubarb stalks for a pie we took as a gift for my grandma, the choice was kinda done for me. Strawberry rhubarb for the win!

And oh boy, how good it turned out. I added a deciliter more strawberries than the original recipe, since I wanted a more intense strawberry flavour. Mom doesn't have an ice cream maker (and neither do I, although that problem will be solved the minute I get back home), so I made the ice cream with the "manual churning method", which means stirring the ice-cream-to-be every 30 minutes. I think my mixture was way runnier than the one in the book, for after 3 hours when the ice cream should have been done (according to the book) I was still left with a chilled strawberry soup. Then the night came, and froze the thing solid, undoing all my vigorous stirring efforts of the previous night. Oh well. The taste was still delicious, although the texture would have been much better when done in an ice cream maker, I'm sure.

But it still made some pretty decent photos. Some of these are my all-time food photo favourites. Thanks, mom, for the wonderful plates and glasses! It's always so inspiring to shoot food in somebody else's kitchen :)

The ice cream is amazing by itself, and even more amazing with whipped coconut cream and pieces of this heavenly chocolate licorice cake. And the mint leaves add a perfect end note to it all. A sweet, heavenly, good-for-you melt-in-your-mouth dessert sundae. Ah, bliss...<3 p="">

Strawberry rhubarb ice cream

1 large rhubarb stalk

3,5 dl fresh strawberries (plus some more to serve)

 1 can (400 ml) full fat coconut milk, chilled in the fridge overnight

1 tbsp cashew butter (I subbed with peanut butter)

1 tbsp coconut oil

3-5 tbsp organic honey (I used a mix of honey and maple syrup, I think 5 tbsp all together)

1/2 tsp vanilla powder/extract

Rinse the rhubarb and peel if you'd like. Chop into small pieces. Rinse strawberries and remove cores. Scoop the solid white part of the coconut milk into a blender. Add rhubarb, cashew butter, coconut oil, sweetener, vanilla and about 2,5 dl of the strawberries. Blend until the consistency is nice and creamy. Add sweetener if necessary.

If you have an ice cream maker: Add the mixture into the machine and make into ice cream according to the machine instructions. Chop the remaining strawberries into small pieces and add into the ice cream shortly before it's done.

If you don't have an ice cream maker: Chop the remaining strawberries into small pieces and add into the mixture. Pour into a freezer-proof tin. Freeze until done, mixing every 30 minutes or so. 

Chunky monkey madness

A person doesn't need a lot to be happy. This ice cream turned so amazing that there was an element of danger in the air as I couldn't help but lick the food processor blades that I used to make this awesomesauce treat. It makes no sense how divine a combination of frozen bananas and cacao powder can be! I wouldn't have needed any sweetener, but as I made the batch to be sold in the cafe I was working, I added some coconut syrup to make the punters happy. And the feedback hasn't been bad, let me tell you. I also testet adding some peanut butter in the mix which naturally didn't make things worse, but it was the normal kind with added sugar (since when living on an island, the pickings are sometime slim), so if you choose to use it, take one without sugar or make your own.

This treat works well as a soft serve, scooped into your mouth straight out of the mixing bowl, or frozen further into an ice-cream. You can also add some texture to the ice cream by adding some chopped nuts, cookie crumble, or whatever you may have on hand.

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Ei tartte ihminen paljoa tullakseen onnelliseksi. Tästä jätskistä tuli niin hyvää, että jo oli vaaran hetket käsillä kun en malttanut olla nuolematta monitoimikoneen teriä. Ei mitään järkeä, miten voi suklaan ja banaani kylmä yhdistelmä olla jumalaista. Ite en välttämättä ees tarttis makeutusta, mutta kun tämä meni myyntiin niin laitoin kuitenkin. Ei oo tullut huonoa palautetta, ei. Testailin sekä pähkinävoilla että ei, hyväähän se on siellä seassa mutta jos haluaa vältellä sokeria niin jättäkee pois. Toimii niin pehmiksenä tai oikeammaksi jätskiksi jäädytettynä. Sekaan oon heitellyt ekoissa versioissa kakkucrumblea josta en parin yrityksen jälkeenkään saanut crumblemaista koostumusta, joten ei siitä sen enempää. Sattumia on kiva olla, joten uudemmissa versioissa seassa on ollut siis em. pähkinävoita ja murskattuja pähkinöitä saatavuuden mukaan.

Chunky monkey

6 ripe bananas

5 tbsp cacao powder (unsweetened)

6 tbsp coconut milk

3-4 tbsp peanut butter

sweeten to taste (about 1-2 tbsp honey/coconyt syrup)

chopped nuts/cookie crumble for texture

Chop and freeze bananas. When they are frozen, add all ingredients (except chopped nuts/cookie crumble) in a food processor bowl and buzz till the consistency is smooth. Add sweetener if desired and buzz again. Mix in the chopped nuts/cookie crumble. Eat as soft serve or freeze.

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6 kypsää banaania

5 rkl kaakaojauhetta

6 rkl kookosmaitoa

3-4 rkl pähkinävoita

maun mukaan makeutusta (hunajaa/kookossiirappia), laitan yleensä n. 1-2 rkl)

pähkinämurua tai muita sattumia

Paloittele banaanit ja pakasta. Kun ovat kohmeisia, pistä kaikki yhdes koos blenderiin ja surauta pehmikseksi. Jos banaanit ehtii kovin jäisiksi, ne kannattaa lisätä erissä ettei blenderi kauhistu. Makeuta maun mukaan. Sekoita sekaan pähkinämurut. Syö sellaisenaan pehmiksenä tai pakasta jäätelöksi.