Magic Peanut Butter Shake
Now that summer has finally and undeniably arrived, let’s take a quick break from baked goods and anything that involves an open flame or heat-producing coil. Summer in Philly, with no air-conditioning and a cozy little apartment on the third floor with 3 tiny, breezeless windows, means just thinking about cooked food makes me sweat.
When I was 10, my mother gave me a book of smoothie recipes. Other than a general understanding of how to make smoothies (fruit, liquid, ice or yogurt optional + blender) and utter lack of fear when it comes to whipping one of those concoctions together, the one factoid that always stuck with me was this: don’t be afraid of putting peanut butter in your blender. Why is that the one line from the book that stuck with me? Are there really people out there who are deathly afraid that putting peanut butter in a blender will result in mass chaos!, or, worse yet, decapitation? In any case, the cookbook authors weren’t lying — it’s really, really okay to put nut butters in your blender.
Phew.
In fact, it’s more than okay. It’s awesome. This next recipe relies on that fact. Technically, it’s probably a smoothie. I call it soft-serve or a milkshake, depending on my mood. You will probably just call it delicious.
As I’ve discussed before, bananas have always been so incredibly easy for me to come by that I make it a point to always have some in my freezer. For easier use (and neater storage) I remove the peels and slice them before freezing. And then when the heat becomes oppressive and the humidity becomes too much to bear, I make one of these.
Magic Peanut Butter Shake
1½ c frozen bananas, roughly chopped
¼ c peanut butter (or a tad more to taste)
2/3 c soy milk (or your favorite vegan milk. vanilla works nicely)
chocolate syrup, optional
food processor or blender
Add the first three ingredients to your food processor. Blend until smooth. Serve in a tall glass with a wide straw or spoon and chocolate syrup.
That’s it! This recipe makes a thick shake. Simply add more soy milk while blending if you want something closer to a milkshake, or slightly less to get the texture of soft-serve. It’s that simple.
For all you banana-haters: the greener your bananas were when you froze them, the less pronounced the banana flavor will be. If you use really over-ripe bananas, call this a peanut butter and banana ice cream. If you use under-ripe bananas, omit the peanut butter, and add a couple tablespoons of sugar and some vanilla extract, you’ll have a nice vanilla soft-serve. If you use less-ripe bananas and stir in a drizzle of chocolate sauce like I am apt to do, this tastes suspiciously like frozen peanut butter cups.
This is seriously so smooth and creamy and perfect in texture that I prefer it to most store-bought vegan ice cream. And it’s good for you, too!
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PB-banana smoothie are my fav smoothies in the world (and i loveeeeeeeee me some smoothies). I usually add carob powder!
Oh wow! Those photos made my mouth water. We have just started adding peanut butter to our smoothies and I’ve never been happier. It really does take them to a whole new level. We usually do frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, soymilk, banana, peanut butter and agave nectar and sometimes a bit of fresh baby spinach. YUM!
You had me at ‘peanut butter’. It looks too yummy!
[...] already talked about bananas ad infinitum, but I’m a firm believer that you can never have too many banana recipes for [...]