Apple pie and vanilla ice cream usually meet in the same bowl. This frozen dessert puts both ideas into one mixture, using banana instead of cream and apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice to bring in the pie flavor.
A frozen banana forms the base with applesauce, fresh apple, almond butter, almond milk, and vanilla protein powder. No ice cream maker is needed. Everything goes through a blender before spending about 90 minutes in the freezer.
Frozen Banana Creates the Ice Cream Base
One frozen banana takes the place of the dairy base found in traditional ice cream. Once blended, it breaks down into a thick mixture that can hold the apple, spices, and other ingredients.
The recipe doesn't depend on banana alone for its texture. Almond butter adds fat, while a small amount of almond milk gives the blender enough liquid to bring everything together.
Fresh Apple and Applesauce Double Up the Fruit
Apple enters the recipe in two forms. Unsweetened applesauce blends into the frozen banana, spreading apple flavor throughout the base, while diced fresh apple provides pieces of fruit.
Only half of the diced apple goes into the blender. The rest is reserved and stirred into the mixture after blending, so pieces remain in each serving rather than disappearing into the base.
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Allspice Bring in the Pie Flavor
Apple alone doesn't make the mixture taste like pie. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice provide the spice combination that shifts the frozen fruit toward the familiar dessert.
A teaspoon of prepared apple pie or pumpkin pie spice can also handle the job. Either route puts those spices against apple and vanilla without requiring a crust or cooked filling.
Almond Butter Adds More Than Flavor
A tablespoon of almond butter goes into the blender with the fruit. Its fat helps give the frozen mixture more body while adding a nutty note alongside the apple and spices.
Vanilla protein powder handles another part of the flavor combination. It brings vanilla into the base, echoing the scoop of vanilla ice cream often served beside a slice of apple pie.
No Ice Cream Maker Is Needed
The banana, applesauce, half the apple, spices, almond butter, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, and a few ice cubes go into a blender until the mixture reaches a thick milkshake consistency.
After the remaining apple is stirred in, the mixture goes into the freezer for about 90 minutes. Stirring it every 30 minutes helps it set into a consistency closer to thick frozen yogurt.
This isn't traditional churned ice cream, and it shouldn't sit in the freezer for days before serving. It can freeze solid after several hours, so it is best eaten within a couple of hours of making it or given time to thaw before scooping.
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