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How to Make Healthy Banana Cream Pie

If you can use a go-to healthy dessert recipe for any occasion, you have to give this banana cream pie a try. Not only is it mouthwateringly good, it's super simple to put together - all you need are ripe bananas, a bit of maple syrup, and some unroasted, unsalted almonds.

Start by peeling four to six ripe bananas.

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Cut them in half.

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And pack them up in a zip lock bag or container and put them away in the freezer to freeze overnight. Or if you do this in the morning, please note that it typically takes about six to eight hours for bananas to freeze.

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Measure out about two cups of unroasted, unsalted almonds.

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To turn the frozen bananas into the rich and creamy filling for this pie, I use our champion juicer. If you have a champion juicer, this is definitely the best way to do it. If you don't have a champion, no worries - you can still make the filling with a good blender, as I'll describe below.

Just so it's clear how the champion juicer turns frozen bananas into all-natural ice cream that's as good as and certainly far healthier than any store-bought variety, here's a look at the blade of the champion:

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Below is the chute and churning compartment that fits over the blade. The flat, solid piece in the middle is where you'd normally use a similar piece that has a stainless steel mesh that allows freshly pressed juices to flow out. By using a solid screen, the frozen bananas will be forced out the side end of the chute where the pulp of vegetables and fruits is normally ejected.

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Just to give you a view of how the solid screen is locked in:

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To make the crust for this pie, transfer almonds to a food processor. Two cups of almonds will make a relatively thin crust for most average-size pie plates. If you like a bit of a thicker crust, use 2.5 or even 3 cups of almonds. If you end up making a little more crust than you need, simply roll up the leftovers into little energy balls or cookies.

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Process the almonds until they look something like this:

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If you use a strong blender like a Vita-Mix, you'll want to be careful not to over-blend, as you could end up with almond butter, which wouldn't work as well for this crust.

Now, with the processor running, add a touch of maple syrup in a slow drizzle. For two cups of almonds, all you'll need is about a tablespoon of maple syrup to bring things together. Just keep the drizzle as thin as possible and stop as soon as the ground almonds begin to come together like a sticky dough.

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You'll be ready to press the crust into a pie plate when your ground almonds and maple syrup combine to look something like this:

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Transfer crust to a medium size pie plate. You don't need to oil the plate, as the natural oils from the almonds will prevent sticking when you cut and serve this up.

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Give your hands an extra cleaning and use the pads of your fingers to evenly distribute the crust along the bottom and sides of the pie plate - this is the hardest part of the entire process. If you don't like your fingers getting a little sticky, you can try using a spatula or wooden spoon to press down and spread the crust, though the crust may repeatedly stick to your utensil.

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Now, if you're using a champion juicer, position it so the chute where the pulp comes out is centered over the pie crust. If you don't have a champion juicer, you can use a strong blender, and add just enough almond milk or non-dairy cream like coconut cream to blend your frozen bananas into banana ice cream.

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Another view of the set-up:

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Now use the plunger of the champion juicer to feed frozen bananas into the chute. This will require a bit of elbow grease - just apply strong and steady downward pressure on the plunger, and keep the frozen banana pieces flowing through this baby.

Please note that for best results, you want to put the chute, blade, and plunger in the freezer for at least 15 minutes prior to making this banana ice cream filling.

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A look at the ice cream filling coming out:

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After you've filled up your crust with a generous amount of banana ice cream, use a spatula or wooden spoon to evenly distribute the ice cream and smooth it out.

And voila, here's what you'll be left with:

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You can serve this up right away, when the ice cream is cold, creamy, and soft.

Or if you prefer your ice cream firm and somewhat hard, put the pie into the freezer and serve an hour later. This pie stays fresh in the freezer for several days, so you can enjoy it slice by slice over a week or so, should it last that long.

Just in case you missed it above, what if you don't have a champion juicer?

When you take the frozen banana pieces out of the freezer, let them sit for a bit at room temperature until they thaw out just a tad, enough to give a little to pressure. Then, put them in a strong blender and blend until you get something similar to the ice cream filling shown above.

If your blender isn't strong enough to turn frozen (thawed) banana pieces into ice cream, add just enough almond milk to get things going.

Once you have it down, you can create endless variations that sing with different textures and flavors.

For example, you can add a bit of raw cocoa powder to the ground almonds before adding the maple syrup to create a chocolate crust.

You can use soaked pecans and dates instead of almonds and maple syrup to create a softer, chewier crust. If this sounds good to you, check out the following recipe to see how to bring pecans and dates together: Recipe for Healthy Energy Balls

You can top the pie with fresh fruit - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries all look lovely with the banana ice cream as a rich and creamy backdrop.

If you enjoy the flavor and richness of coconut, you can add a little coconut oil to the crust, or sprinkle some dried coconut on top just before serving.

Or as a special treat, you can sprinkle some dark chocolate chips or carob chips on top before serving.

When mango season comes around, you can create mango ice cream filling by freezing frozen mango slices and going through the same process shown above. Ditto for most fruits, though bananas and mangoes work best because they become naturally creamy when they are frozen and homogenized, especially bananas.

And of course, you can always make just the ice cream and enjoy a truly healthy alternative to Häagen-Daz and Ben & Jerry's.

If you're interested in getting a champion juicer to make natural ice cream and freshly pressed juices, you can go here: Household and Commercial Champion Juicers.

If you want to get a super strong blender that far surpasses the performance of the best blenders that you'll find at department stores, please feel free to view: The Vita-Mix Blender.

Using a strong blender rather than the champion juicer makes it easier to flavor your natural ice creams with things like vanilla beans, cocoa powder, and coconut butter or coconut oil. But you'll get the very best ice cream-like consistency by using the solid plate that comes with champion juicers.

If you give this recipe a try and would like to share some feedback, or have suggestions on variations, please use the comments section below.

Enjoy!

 
 

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Comments

I just made banana icecream in my vitamix on Sunday. I use frozen bananas, almond milk and almond butter. This recipe looks delicious. I am excited to try out this pie for a new twist on my banana icecream. Thank you!

Thank you for the great recipe! Beside the exquisite taste the nice touch is that it is a raw dessert. I have made a similar type of pie with an apple filling, only the apples were not creamed but grated and mixed with slippery elm powder so that they can stay together. There can be so many variations and substitutions. It really allows for creativity!

Do you wash the almonds before processing?
I've been told to wash and blanch almonds always.
What is your opinion?

We've made banana ice cream in our Champion for years. Everyone likes it! Also make similar desserts with other frozen fruit.

Your pie looks marvellous. Thanks for the recipe.

I haven't tried your version yet, so I can't rate it, but it sounds wonderful. I use agave instead of maple syrup, as I think it has a lower glycemic count, and since i"m dealing with cancer, that's important to me. I also using soak my almonds before grinding them.

I love getting your emails.

Susan

I've had a Champion juicer for years, have used it to make nut butters and frozen fruit ice cream, but never thought to combine them like this. What a great idea! We like to combine bananas w/strawberry, a good flavor combination and also looks very pretty. We also drizzle blackstrap molasses on top of the ice cream, just as if it were chocolate syrup, and sometimes sprinkle ground flax seed on top for extra fiber & pizzazz. Thanks to Dr. Kim for such a great newsletter.

great simple recipe!!!! thanks for this... I'm going to make this tonight!

we've owned a champion for years and years and in fact I still have one in the basement - it was the one my dad bought when I was a kid (I'm 41 now!!)

It really is a little workhorse...makes FABULOUS pate too!

I just made Victoria Boutenko's Mousse Cake recipe from her new book and btw it was fabulous! One tip was to use a bit of sprinkled coconut on the bottom before putting down your crust....I froze for a bit in the freezer and it peeled right out!

One other note...I made a 'banana milk shake\ the other day and was shocked at how incredibly delicious it was... we used almond milk, lots of frozen bananas, a bit of vanilla and a squirt of agave (or hoeny)....

thanks Dr. Kim for the inspiration and quick easy recipes for those of us with little ones, no time, and too many unused cookbooks on our shelves! LOL

wendy

Combo... could I ask how you do your almond butter in the champion? do you soak the nuts first, use oil etc? I've never attempted it for fear of burning the motor out. Would love to hear first hand how it's done successfully. thanks, Wendy

We bought our Champion Juicer 28 years ago and it still performs beautifully.
Your Newsletter is one of the most important items I look for in my email. Thanks very much.
Art

My die-hard meat and potatoes husband had to switch to a vegetarian diet because of health problems. He is slowly adjusting and even enjoying his new menu, but he misses dessert. I tryed this pie tonight and he loved it! I have a vita-mix blender and it was just so easy to mix up! Thanks!

I've had my Champion Juicer since the mid-seventies! It's my secret weapon for making the worlds greatest carrot salad, sometimes with pineapple and raisins and coconut oil, and sometimes with shredded daikon radish and toasted sesame oil.

This is wonderful! I have been meaning to buy an ice cream maker, but with my commercial blender I'm set with this recipe. I shall be making this now instead of eating 2 or 3 bananas a day. And the other fruit that do not become creamy, I'll just be adding almond milk to them and freezing a bit. This is the answer to being lactose intolerant.

I REALLY want to try out this pie, but I couldn't get the "printer friendly" version to come up on my computer, and don't want to print pages and pages of the illustrated version, which, by the way, is very good, but I still don't want to print it. Is there something
wrong with the printer friendly version of this recipe posting? Thanks.

For some of these pictorials, we don't yet have picture-free versions, so please cut and paste into Word or another word processing program and print from there. Good luck!

I cut and paste into Word all the time. It's very easy and no doubt faster than copying all the pix. I sometimes copy the photo of the finished recipe right into my Word document, as well. Piece of cake!

Reading all these comments has convinced me I need a Champion juicer. Am going to look into it right now.

Ariadne

Hi I was wondering if you have any other suggestion for the crust,instead of almonds.

Pecans and dates work really well. Look up "energy balls" using the search engine up top, and you'll find a recipe that shows how to combine the two with a food processor. I actually like pecan-date crust more than the one with almonds. It's more expensive, though.

Can you use a champion for the almond pie crust? or does it become too buttery? thanks

My experience is that it does indeed become too buttery. The champion turns nuts more into a buttery paste.

I made Banana Cream Pie for my first time today and WOW what a treat! My family absolutely loved it. I added a layer of date and cocoa on top of the crust and then added the creamed bananas on top.

I took about 15 dates, chopped them up and softened in hot water. Then I pureed them in a food processor with two heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder and a little bit of mapple syrup to achieve a spreadable paste.

We served this up with pecans and chocolate chips. It was our son's
"Happy Healthy B-Day Treat!"

I will definetelly be saving this recipe for sharing at special events. This is unique, simple, and so amazingly delicious.

Happy Healthy Eats!
I'm going to try to upload a picture to show the layering effect:
<a target='_blank' href='http://www.slide.com/s/8MzaID0p1T_swus85G0sWY7rfSAByWrM?referrer=hlnk'><img src='http://widget.slide.com/rdr/1/1/2/S/1e00000021ab8724/1/88/1MUr6m0a1j-pgR... border='0' alt='100 8048' title='100 8048' /></a>

We just finished the banana pie and it was great! I decided to make individual custard cups and place the crust in first sprinkled with coconut flakes. Then the banana cream filling topped with strawberries, chopped walnuts and coconut flakes. For the bottom crust I did not have enough of almonds so I ground 1/2 walnuts and mixed them with the ground almonds. I used my coffee grinder to grind the nuts --they came out super fine and easy to make the crust. I then placed the nut powder into my small Black and Decker chopper and added the maple syrup a few drops at a time. The crust turned out great. I love the healthy ways to have desserts :-)

Read this article few years back and recently purchased the Champion Juicer! Finally I get to try this. I mixed the almond and walnut as the crust. The taste of nuts and creamy banana is amazing, and best of all - A Healthy Snack! Thank you for sharing this great recipe..

This has to be the BEST banana recipe i've read Yum !
You are amazing Dr Kim you give us the greatest health tips
Videos and recipes. I will share this with friends.
Thank you so much for all you do.
Judith