3-Ingredient Nectarine Nice Cream (Vegan/GF)
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This Nectarine Nice Cream is so healthy, you can eat it for breakfast! There is no added sugar and only three ingredients!
To be honest, I’m just not a fruit person. Other than when I was pregnant, I just do not crave fruit and only really eat it when it’s cut up and displayed nicely for me so I can eat it like a goddess.
Now mix fruit with ice cream and suddenly I’m all about it. I’ve heard about “Nice Cream” before – a healthy version of ice cream and have been dying to try it. Summertime, with its abundance of fruit, seems to be the perfect time to try it!
Hmmm…now which fruit to choose?
Well, it’s peach and nectarine season here in California. I like those fruits.
I consulted with my blogging advisor — my husband, of course. Immediately, Drew had the idea that if I were to choose nectarines, that I should name it “Necta-ream”…get it? Like instead of necta-RINE, it’s necta-REAM, like ice-c”REAM”. I have to say he comes up with some pretty good ideas…
Like marrying me.
When I asked Drew (nope, not to marry me) if I should make Peach Nice Cream or Nectarine Nice Cream, he said nectarine hands down, not because we both like nectarines better, but because nectarines remind him of our wedding. Does that make my husband kind of romantic?
A Most Dangerous Wedding Favor
For those of you that attended my wedding, you know that we did not give much notice for the event. We jokingly called it a shotgun wedding, but there was no baby. We had been engaged since December but didn’t decide on a wedding date until July. The wedding was to be scheduled for October 8th. Of the same year. This means we had about three months to plan it…just in case you’ve never planned a wedding before, that is a little hard to do.
Amongst the many things we had to get figured out for the wedding, for the purpose of this story, I will focus on only one. The wedding favors.
Our wedding theme was “whimsical”, a theme I chose based on my love for living in fantasy land. Our colors were orange and green. I wanted to create at least a semi-unique wedding favor that was budget-friendly, that had a homey, loving feel, and that matched my color scheme.
During this time, we were renting a little studio in the “country” that happened to have a nectarine tree that was producing like crazy right when I needed an idea…
Here is the fairyland conversation I had with myself:
Me: What if I made homemade jam using the nectarines from our tree?
Me: Oh my gosh, you’re brilliant!
Me: Oh, stop it.
Me: I wonder how you even make jam?
Me: Well, it can’t be that hard.
Me: What if I can’t pull it off?
Me: Don’t be silly! Of course, I’ll pull it off. People make homemade jam all the time. What could go wrong? (And with that, Kaileigh twirled in her ballgown into the kitchen singing “Fa-la-la-la-la!”)
And now back to reality:
- Our studio kitchen had two 2 x 1.5 ft. wooden blocks, which served as our counter space. The point being, I didn’t have much space to set the bajillion nectarines I was cooking with.
- As mentioned above, I’ve never made jam before.
- I would be making homemade jam for 100 people. The jam was to be placed delicately in 100 tiny containers. All by me.
- When reading up about homemade jam, I stumbled across the word “Botulism”…a bacteria that can cause deadly food poisoning if I were to process the cans incorrectly. Enter PANIC.
- I decided that I would have to make two labels for each container (one to go on top and one for the bottom) to explain: 1) what the heck the wedding favor was and 2) to emphasize to the guests to PLEASE, for God’s sakes, consume the jam within 6 months or you may die because there is a slight to large chance that I accidentally poisoned you.
And so I embarked on my mission to make delicious homemade nectarine jam for the first time, in bulk, with no back-up plan. Though in reality, I looked like a mad scientist while making the jam, in my head, I looked like Cinderella, gracefully slaving, dancing, and singing away in the kitchen, accompanied by some cute talking animal friends.
In the end, no guests were harmed thankfully. Although, Drew is somehow still eating one of the jars of jam, almost four years later (he moves at his own pace). So you know…we’ll see what happens.
What I’ve come to realize is that I feel a strong connection with the nectarine now. Who knew a fruit could be so risky, exciting, and comforting all at the same time? Like a reality TV show. I just can’t get enough.
Speaking of the strong connection I have to nectarines now — I was supposed to be talking about Nectarine Nice Cream. Let’s get to that.
3-Ingredient Nectarine Nice Cream
This deliciously creamy, just like soft-serve, Nectarine Nice Cream, comes together with only THREE ingredients! None of which are added sugar and ALL of which are healthy.
Do you realize what this means?
It means you can finally have what you’ve always wanted. Ice cream for breakfast!
I mean, I did it.
My son, Ty, did it.
You should do it.
Or you can just eat it when normal people eat ice cream.
How to Make It
If your fruit is not frozen yet, DO THIS:
Cut 1 cup of banana into 1-inch rounds and 2 cups of nectarines diced (approximately 4-5 nectarines). Lay the fruit flat on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Set in the freezer for about four hours or until frozen.
Once your fruit is frozen and you’re ready for some Nectarine Nice Cream, DO THIS:
In a food processor, combine 1 cup frozen bananas, 2 cups frozen nectarines, and ½ cup coconut milk. Blend until the texture turns into an ice cream texture. You may have to scrape the sides once or twice.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender, though you should use a higher power blender to create the ice cream texture. Ours isn’t quite powerful enough and since I have a history of breaking blenders, I played it safe and added more coconut milk than I would have liked. This meant it was more like melted soft serve. It was still delicious though!
Stay tuned!
Next week, I’ll be featuring a different stone fruit…but will it be quite so risky?
Tools For This Recipe
- Food processor or high-speed blender
- Freezer-safe glass container for the leftover nectarine ice cream
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I hope you love this Nectarine Nice Cream! If you make it, be sure to leave a rating below so I know how you liked it! Enjoy!
3-Ingredient Nectarine Nice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen nectarines, cut into slices
- 1 frozen banana, broken into thirds or sliced
- 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk, unsweetened
Instructions
- Place frozen nectarines, frozen banana, and coconut milk in a food processor or high-powered blender.
- Process the nice cream for about 1 minute*, until the texture looks like creamy ice cream. You may have to stop processing the nice cream midway to scrape the ingredients down the sides once or twice. *Note: It will look like it’s not going to turn into an ice cream texture, but it magically transforms at almost the minute mark of processing it!