Last weekend, as I was making banana soft serve, the idea struck me to use it as a base for a popsicle. Instead of a typical icy, fruit-based popsicle, I wanted a popsicle with an ice-cream like taste and texture. A bit similar to these fruity popsicles, but more ice cream like. I figured banana soft serve could do the trick while being less costly than all-natural popsicles from the grocery store.
And, tell me, what goes better with banana than peanut butter and jam?
A little planning ahead will do you well with this recipe because you’ll need 4 peeled and frozen bananas to kick things off. For some reason, I seemed to be hoarding frozen bananas in the freezer last week, so I had them ready to go! Who am I kidding, I’m always hoarding bananas. Don’t worry if the frozen bananas are covered in ice crystals; it’ll all come out in the wash.
Roughly chop the frozen bananas and whirl in the food processor along with 3-4 tbsp of almond milk. Once it starts to get creamy (you’ll have to scrape the bowl down every now and then), add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and process until smooth.
Now we have amaaaazing peanut butter banana soft serve. You might think to yourself it doesn’t get much better than this…
Oh but it does.
Now remove the bowl from the base of the processor and stir in 3 tbsp of your favourite jam and another tablespoon of peanut butter. You want to leave it nice and chunky, with thick ribbon-like swirls throughout.
Try to stop yourself from planting your face in the bowl. It’s difficult.
Scoop into popsicle molds, sneaking spoonfuls here and there.
Now, here is the tricky part. These take a long time to freeze & set. I would say about 6-8 hours or longer. It might as well have been a week as far as my impatient self was concerned. I suggest leaving them overnight in the freezer if you can. Your sanity will thank you for it.
Don’t worry though, the clean up is fun!
Here’s the thing. These are probably the homeliest, sad lookin’ popsicles I’ve ever laid eyes on, but they are also some of the best popsicles I’ve tried. It’s like PB & J & B ice cream, without the dairy. A banana split in popsicle form.
Maybe they aren’t the best looking popsicles I’ve come across, but I can promise you won’t be able to stop at just one.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Peanut Butter, Jam, and Banana Soft Serve Popsicles
Yield
6 small popsicles
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Chill time
6-8 hours
Total time
These are soft, ice cream like popsicles with swirls of PB and jam throughout. For a fun twist, try stirring in some shaved chocolate. When freezing, shaved chocolate is nice because you don’t have to bite into big frozen chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 4 medium/large bananas, peeled and frozen
- 3-4 tbsp almond milk
- 2 tbsp natural peanut butter
- 3 tbsp raspberry or strawberry jam, for swirling in
- 1 tbsp natural peanut butter, for swirling in
Directions
- In a food processor, add 4 roughly chopped frozen bananas along with a few tablespoons of almond milk. Whirl in the processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Now add in two tablespoons of peanut butter and process again until combined & smooth.
- Remove bowl from base and stir in the jam and another tablespoon of peanut butter, leaving thick ribbons of jam and PB throughout the soft serve. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the soft serve into popsicle molds (it made enough for 6 small popsicles for me, however this will vary based on the size of your molds). Push the mixture all the way to the bottom with the end of a spoon. Freeze for at least 6-8 hours, or overnight. Run hot water over the mold to help the popsicle slide out. I found they were a bit difficult to get out of the mold, but I’m not sure if that was due to my strange shaped popsicle mold or simply the consistency of the popsicle.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
and some blog news to share…
Eric and I have been working behind the scenes on some exciting blog stuff that I’m really excited to share with you! One of the changes I’m excited about is a new categorization system. My recipes will soon be completely searchable via a new menu system directly from my home page. You will be able to search easily by dietary preferences (gluten-free, soy-free, etc), season, type of dish (appetizer, entrée, dessert, etc), and much more. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years now and I hope it makes your life easier. My other blog topics, such as fitness and my various writing posts, will also be categorized in various ways so they are much easier to locate.
Needless to say, this has been a huge undertaking as it’s involved going through every single blog post over the last (almost) 4 years and re-categorizing everything with a fine tooth comb. Eric has been working his magic on a few other design related things (involving lots of coding that I know nothing about) and you will be seeing those changes soon too. I don’t know what I’d do without this guy. He’s a smart cookie! He also decided to DRAW a picture of me on the sidebar so every time I see the new homepage I die laughing. I’ll have to get a screenshot of it to show you so you know what I mean. Anyway, there won’t be any major changes right now – in fact you might not even notice some of them – but the blog will look a bit fresher and easier to navigate. That is the goal.
There are other things going on too – we’re working on an entirely new website. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a long time in the works, so more on that at a later date!








When you freeze your popsicles, do you do so with or without the peel?
I assume you mean bananas? :) I freeze them without the peel.
Yes, I mean bananas, haha!
This looks great and I can’t wait to try it!!
Enjoy :)
Yum, I can’t wait to make these as I have frozen banana in the freezer. I might not wait for the Popsicles though!
Great news on your blog. I recently signed up with recipage for my blog. Are you moving away from that? I love your blog and have made quite a few of your recipes now and loved all of them. Many thanks
Katherine
“Needless to say, this has been a huge undertaking as it’s involved going through every single blog post over the last (almost) 4 years and re-categorizing everything with a fine tooth comb.” <— this explains why in the past few days, I've gotten some wordpress pings/alerts from you, any time you have linked me back over the years, as old as like 2009. Anytime I get that, I know someone is moving servers or doing something big to their site…oh fun times for you! But it will all be worth it!
And this PB&J creation, can't beat it. Love the homely/tasty little graphic you put up :) LOLing at it!
That’s funny! I bet ppl all over are getting strange pingbacks then.
I think I’d eat it right out of a bowl…love that banana soft serve and really think the jam is a tasty addition!
THESE LOOK FREAKING AMAZING. Nothing beats pb and j!
These look delicious! I can’t wait to see the picture Eric drew of you!
hah oh it’s entertaining to say the least.
I know exactly what you mean about hoarding bananas! I HATE seeing bananas go to waste, their flavour only intensifies as they ripen, perfect in smoothies or baking (or anything really!). I go to Superstore and head straight to the reduced product section. Well once I saw not one, not two, but at least 5 bags of ORGANIC bananas 50% off. Oh my word. If only I hadn’t ridden my bike. And brought a larger bag. And had more freezer space. It was a heartbreaking moment when I accepted the fact that I could only leave with one bag of my beloved discounted bananas. And today was the same thing! Oh if only we could save all of the discounted produce in the world! But we can’t. I’ve learned that the hard way when I bought 5 gallons of organic milk which were on sale AND 50% off and now have to deal with the fact that 1.3 gallons are spoiling and I have no idea what to do with them. Farewell from your banana-hoarding partner in law!
I’ve been a long time banana soft serve skeptic, (why? Who knows, I love bananas) but decided to break out the Popsicle molds and give this one a shot. Needless to say I will never doubt you again! I made a mocha, almond butter and co-coa coconut flavored soft serve and I’m in love. Thanks!
Good luck with the blog work. It’s already fabulous, so I’m sure it’ll be great!
wowee! these sound amazing. they are the perfect summer treat! i would definitely have little self control around these babies!
I might not be able to make it to the popsicle stage, that soft serve looks great as is!! Will have to start freezing my bananas :)
YUM! Love this idea! And congrats on all the new blog stuff! Excited to see it all roll out :)
this is so exciting! Your hard work will definitely pay off. Excited for the new search tool! and this recipe of course.
<3
I absolutely love the way it looks in the food processor with the jam swirled all through it! I’m not sure I could even bear to put it into the moulds without eating a big bowl first. Priorities, ya know!
wow what a delicious treat! i ADORE the combo of pb j and banana! i’m totally going to make these right now!
My mind is blown! These sound fantastic. Except I would just eat it as pb&j manner soft serve. nom!
I haven’t made frozen popsicles for the kids all summer…our molds have sat untouched in the cupboard for most of the summer. I think this recipe is as a good a reason to break them out as any…LOL! Plus, my kids would love these…heck, I would love these…;) I have my own stash of frozen bananas that are calling to me from the freezer now…LOL!
I’ll be making banana soft serve tomorrow; pb and j soft serve is the perfect idea! Thanks Angela, they look super tasty.
My family and I can’t thank you enough for creating this website! Can’t wait until your book comes out either :) These pops look delish and can’t wait to try. However, my daughter is allergic to peanut butter, maybe I’ll try with almond butter? Not sure how that will taste!
Thank you Toni :) I was wondering about using AB too, let me know if you try it out.
yummy – can’t wait to make these and excited about the Blog updates