Love frozen bananas, chocolate, and toasted nuts? These Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Bon Bons are a healthy and delicious dairy-free, paleo, and vegan frozen dessert! Best of all, they’re super simple to make with just a few ingredients that you may already have in your kitchen!
My Inspirations For This Paleo Dessert!
I love shortcuts to deliciousness, especially for paleo dessert recipes! I came up with this simple, bite-sized confection by merging together two of my favorite recipes—The Kitchn’s One Ingredient Ice Cream and Irvin Lin’s homemade Magic Shell. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to use up ripe bananas when you’re sick of making my Strawberry Banana Ice Cream!
Timing is key!
The steps for this recipe are easy, but timing is key. You must wait for the “ice cream” to freeze completely (twice!) before proceeding, and then you gotta work fast. Otherwise, you’ll end up with melty brown lumps.
My Favorite Dark Chocolate
Because this recipe only uses six ingredients, quality matters—especially when you’re choosing the dark chocolate for the coating. I normally chop up dark chocolate bars (ranging from 70% to 85% cacao) that I would snack on, including Green & Black Organic Dark Chocolate and Alter Eco brands. If you’re too lazy to chop up the chocolate, you can use Hu Gems or Pascha Chocolate Chips.
Time to make Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Bon Bons!
Makes 24 Bon Bons
Ingredients:
- 3 medium ripe bananas, frozen and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7 ounces dark chocolate (70% cacao or higher), finely chopped
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds or toasted chopped walnuts (Chunky Monkey ice cream typically contains walnuts, but I prefer almonds)
Equipment:
- All of my recommended kitchen tools are listed here.
Method:
First things first: you gotta make your banana ice cream. Mine isn’t quite one-ingredient—I use two—but it’s drop-dead simple nonetheless, and doesn’t require an ice cream maker. (I have a similar recipe for a 2-minute Strawberry Banana Ice Cream in my first cookbook!)
Toss the frozen banana chunks and vanilla into a blender or food processor…
…and blitz until smooth and creamy.
Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until solid but scoopable (about 2 hours).
I know you’re itching to complete the recipe, but it’ll take some time for the ice cream to harden. Go for a long, leisurely walk to the park, and avoid opening the freezer every 20 minutes to check on your ice cream. You’ll drive yourself crazy.
Once your ice cream has firmed up, use a small disher to scoop it into teaspoon-sized balls. Place them on a parchment lined tray.
Work quickly—you don’t want your ice cream to melt.
Place the tray in the freezer and chill until the scoops are solid. Really solid. If you can stand the wait, I recommend letting them sit overnight in the freezer. Trust me on this.
When you’re ready to assemble the bon bons, throw the chocolate, coconut oil, and salt in a heat-proof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering water, making sure the water does not come in contact with the bottom of the bowl.
Stir the chocolate mixture constantly until completely melted. (Alternatively, you can just nuke the chocolate mixture in 30 second increments in a microwave until melted.)
Take the chocolate off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. It should stay liquid for several hours as long as your house is above 70°F. If your house is colder than that, your air conditioning is on too high.
Remove the solid banana ice cream scoops out of the freezer. Stab a skewer into the flat bottom of an ice cream ball…
…and quickly dip it in the melted chocolate…
…or just spoon it on.
Before the chocolate shell hardens, sprinkle on the chopped nuts.
Don’t dawdle. The “ice cream” can melt quickly, and the chocolate magic shell hardens fast, so the most efficient way to coat these treats is to get the whole family involved. Give everyone a skewer—you can eat as you make ‘em.
Keep the skewers on if you want to enjoy these treats as a Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Pop (just cut off the pointy ends so you don’t stab yourselves)…
…or you can keep your bon bons in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a couple of months.
Now go make your little monkeys happy!
[Originally posted on July 8, 2013. Updated with new details and photos on July 13, 2020.]
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Bon Bons (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 3 medium ripe bananas frozen and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7 ounces dark chocolate 70% cacao or higher, finely chopped
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds or toasted chopped walnuts
Instructions
- First things first: you gotta make your banana ice cream. Toss the frozen banana chunks and vanilla into a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy.
- Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until solid but scoopable (about 2 hours).
- Once your ice cream has firmed up, use a small disher to scoop it into teaspoon-sized balls. Place them on a parchment lined tray. (Work quickly—you don’t want your ice cream to melt.)
- Place the tray in the freezer and chill until the scoops are solid. I recommend letting them sit overnight in the freezer.
- When you’re ready to finish assembling the bon bons, throw the chocolate, coconut oil, and salt in a heat-proof bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. (This is what you do if you don’t have a double boiler.) Make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir the chocolate mixture constantly until completely melted.
- Alternatively, if you prefer using a microwave oven, you can just nuke the chocolate mixture in 30 second increments until melted.
- Take the chocolate off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. It should stay liquid for several hours as long as your house is above 70°F. If your house is colder than that, your air conditioning is on too high.
- Remove the solid scoops out of the freezer. Stab a skewer into the flat bottom of an ice cream ball, and quickly dip it in the melted chocolate or just spoon it on.
- Before the chocolate shell hardens, sprinkle on the chopped almonds. Don’t dawdle. The “ice cream” can melt quickly, and the chocolate magic shell hardens fast, so the most efficient way to coat these treats is to get the whole family involved. Give everyone a skewer—you can eat as you make ‘em.
- You can store the Bon Bons in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Ally says
What do you use for this? Thanks!
Ally says
I meant what chocolate do you use! Thanks.