Banana Split

An ice-creamy desserts made almost entirely of bananas. This one is delicious AND nutritious too!

INGREDIENTS

For the Ice-Cream:

• 1 bananas, chopped and frozen

• 2 Tbsp cacao powder

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the chocolate sauce

• 2/3 cup filtered water

• 1/2 cup pitted dates

• 3 Tbsp cacao powder

• 1 Tbsp maple syrup

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the frozen banana pieces, cacao and vanilla essence in a food processor and process on medium speed until smooth and creamy. You will need to scrape down the sides once or twice to make sure the bananas have blended smoothly, but don't over process - you want it remain thick and frozen instead of runny.

2. Spoon the mixture into a container and transfer back to the freezer to harden.

3. To make the chocolate sauce, place all sauce ingredients into a food processor or blender and process on the highest speed until smooth and velvety. Keep blending until all of the dates are totally smooth.

4. Cut the extra banana in half length-ways and lay open on a plate.

5. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon ice cream mixture on top of banana and top with chocolate topping, chopped walnuts and a fresh cherry.

This recipe is featured in Sweets & Treats eBook, along with 50 others nutritiously raw snacks.

A Word from Tamara Lee I've always loved banana splits. I mean who doesn't - you've got chocolate, ice-cream and chopped nuts served on top of the world's sweetest and most nutritious: fruit. It's pure heaven, but traditional version is also a heart attack waiting to happen. So much animal fat, calories and so so SO much refined sugar. This raw version isn't exactly light on the calories, so please keep to the the suggested serving size: one third of a split. It's filling as, so you really don;t need anymore than that to satisfy you. Promise. This is a dessert that I might give to my kids as a special treat. We're pretty fond of bananas around here and here's why. Firstly, bananas are a good source of potassium which is an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, fewer than 2% of US adults met the daily 4700 mg recommendation (1). The recommended daily intake (RDI) for men is 3800mg, and women 2800mg (2). One medium-sized banana contains around 400mg of potassium, so it's a delicious way to bump up your RDI. Secondly, The Imperial College of London collected dietary information from 2,640 children, ages 5 to 10, and found that children who ate just one banana per day had a significant reduction in developing asthma symptoms (3). So get them into your kids, parents!! Lastly, many studies have found that people on diets high in fibre have reduced risks of certain diseases such as cancers, coronary heart disease, obesity and possibly diabetes (4). Bananas are an excellent source of dietary fiber (most fruits and vegetables are), so if you're anything like me and love eating dessert, bananas are a great choice. Ideally, fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach so try wait a few hours after the meal, if eating them in the evening. We eat dinner at 5pm, and if I'm having a dessert it would be at around 8pm, usually on weekends. ​ One more thing - go easy on the chocolate sauce!!