Name: Tart Cherry Nice Cream
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1.5 cups mashed ripe banana; 1 cup frozen pitted sweet cherries; 0.5 cup frozen pitted tart cherries; 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk

Tart Cherry Nice Cream

3.0

(5)

4 Reviews

This easy vegan tart cherry nice cream—made from only a few simple ingredients—is guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth and also deliver a boost of melatonin that may help you get a more restful night's sleep.

Andrea Mathis, M.A., RDN, LD

Published on September 9, 2021

Tart Cherry Nice Cream — Photo: Andrea Mathis

Active Time:

10 mins

Total Time:

10 mins

Servings:

Nutrition Profile:

Dairy-Free Diabetes Appropriate Egg Free Gluten-Free Heart Healthy Soy-Free Vegan Vegetarian

Jump to Nutrition Facts

Our series, Hormones & Our Health: How What You Eat May Affect How They Work, explores the vast role hormones play in the body and the diet and lifestyle factors that help them function as they should.

Nice cream is a delicious dairy-free dessert made from frozen fruit. Most nice cream recipes include bananas, which helps to add creaminess without the need for cream. (Slice and freeze the banana ahead of time so it's ready when you want to whip up some nice cream.) For this recipe, we used a combination of bananas, sweet cherries and tart cherries, the latter of which happens to have some pretty impressive health benefits when it comes to sleep.

It's no fun trying to function on insufficient sleep. And besides making us feel groggy, consistent poor sleep can impact our immune system, heart health, weight and mental health. Thankfully, certain foods may help improve both sleep quality and duration, like tart cherries, which are naturally rich in the sleep hormone melatonin. Try this no-sugar-added Tart Cherry Nice Cream as an after-dinner treat!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups mashed ripe banana
1 cup frozen pitted sweet cherries
½ cup frozen pitted tart cherries
3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk

Directions

Place banana, sweet cherries, tart cherries and almond milk in a food processor (see Tip); process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.

Tip

A food processor is the best choice in this recipe, but if you don't have one, you can use a blender. You will need to add more liquid in order to achieve the desired smooth consistency.

Recipe Updates

Based on earlier review and comments of this recipe, we've retested and made the following adjustments (and updated the nutritional analysis accordingly):

Skipped freezing the bananas and used mashed ripe bananas instead (for a creamier texture).

Adjusted the amounts of frozen sweet and tart cherries (for balanced flavor).

Used a food processor instead of a blender (if you use a blender, you'll need to add more liquid).

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

73	Calories
18g	Carbs
1g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 4
Serving Size 3/4 cup
Calories 73
% Daily Value *
Total Carbohydrate 18g	7%
Dietary Fiber 2g	7%
Total Sugars 12g
Protein 1g	2%
Vitamin A 350IU	7%
Sodium 9mg	0%
Potassium 264mg	6%

Nutrition information is calculated by a registered dietitian using an ingredient database but should be considered an estimate.

* Daily Values (DVs) are the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume each day. Percent Daily Value (%DV) found on nutrition labels tells you how much a serving of a particular food or recipe contributes to each of those total recommended amounts. Per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the daily value is based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet. Depending on your calorie needs or if you have a health condition, you may need more or less of particular nutrients. (For example, it’s recommended that people following a heart-healthy diet eat less sodium on a daily basis compared to those following a standard diet.)

(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a special diet for medical reasons, be sure to consult with your primary care provider or a registered dietitian to better understand your personal nutrition needs.