Banana chai smoothie pops

[rosefox]

Banana chai smoothie pops are in the freezer! Woo!

I used this recipe (TW for rabidly cheerful weight loss language), basically, modded as follows:

Place 3 bananas in blender or food processor. While it runs, drizzle in milk-or-equivalent until the bananas are liquified. If milk is not already vanilla-flavored, pour in a few splashes of vanilla extract. Shake in some cinnamon, the seeds of one cardamom pod, and a bit of ground nutmeg (not too much!). Add a heaping tablespoon of sugar-or-equivalent. Grate in some fresh or frozen ginger. Taste; adjust flavors as desired. Pour into cups, add sticks, and freeze. Makes about 18 fluid ounces, which I distributed into three 9-ounce cups for nice big adult-size pops.

Pro tip #1: Buy lots of ginger root, peel it, and freeze it. Keeps forever and can be subbed for fresh ginger in any recipe. Just be careful when slicing it if it's frozen solid.

Pro tip #2: If you're using paper cups, slice a fourth banana into chunks, one chunk for each ice pop. Place the chunks cut side down and push an upright wooden stick into each one. Then place the sticks into the ice pop cups and pour the liquid in. The banana chunks will keep the sticks upright while the liquid freezes. I was SO PROUD of myself for thinking of this.

Comments

[northern]

Thanks for the ginger tip!

[rosefox]

You're welcome! I wish I could remember where I first read it. It's so useful to always have grated "fresh" ginger when I want it; I hardly ever use the powdered stuff anymore.

Also see the comment thread below about shredding ginger before freezing.

[acelightning]

I buy gingerroot in the Asian grocery (where it's cheaper by far than in the supermarket) and chop it nice and fine. I put it into a quart Ziplock bag, spreading it into a thin layer before sealing the bag, and freeze it. It's trivially easy to break off as much or as little as you need, and it defrosts while you're assembling your other ingredients.

[rosefox]

Ah, handy! And I bet I could use the shredder blade on the Cuisinart to do similarly without killing my arms. But don't you lose a lot of the juice that way?

[acelightning]

I tried using my food processor - it's a small one - to chop ginger, and all I got was a stringy, un-usable mess. A more powerful processor might not have that problem. As for the juice, the freshly chopped ginger is usually quite juicy, and most of the juice winds up in the baggie. That's why you need to freeze it in a thin layer - too thick, and the ice is difficult to break. If you want to make sure you get every last drop of the delicious ginger flavor, put the broken-off piece on top of one of the other ingredients to defrost, or add it to the food while it's still frozen.

[rosefox]

I have a lovely big Cuisinart with a shredder blade that's basically a rotating cheese grater. I'd probably try shredding the ginger that way, since I usually use a grater or microplane to shred ginger, rather than trying to use the chopping blade. Definitely worth a shot the next time we buy ginger.

[acelightning]

I tried the shredder blade, but it produced a tangle of stringy, fibrous junk interspersed with watery puree. YMMV, of course.

[jesseh]

I just grate the frozen ginger on the microplane as needed. Works great!

[florahart]

I want to make smoothies, but I wish bananas weren't so likely to make my tongue itch. During particularly itchy times of year even banana bread will--it's a localized itch, no throat swelling or anything--and most of the year a fresh banana outide a couple-day ripe-and-freshness window will. Frozen is intolerable almost always, and getting a smoothie that does not actually have bananas in it is pretty much impossible. *jealous*

I also wish I understood the mechanism on the frozen thing, because wtf why would freezing an otherwise acceptable banana cause tongue-itch?

Also, yes. Ginger is 3 million percent better fresh.

[rosefox]

Maybe most frozen bananas, banana breads, etc. are ways of dealing with bananas that are already overripe and therefore likely to trigger your reaction?

Anyway, the joy of homemade smoothies is that you can put anything in them you want, and leave out anything you don't want! Bananas are usually used because they provide thickening, but there are other ways you can thicken a smoothie; use yogurt or ice cream or coconut cream instead of milk, or blend in some peanut butter or avocado or stone fruit. Other tropical fruits like mango and papaya could also work. I've even seen suggestions to use cooked pumpkin or frozen cantaloupe! Basically, anything that's got lots of fat, or fleshy fruit that doesn't hold a lot of water, will make the smoothie thick and creamy. And if you use frozen fruit and/or blend in ice, that will also thicken it. (Ask a Jamba Juice smoothie-maker to "make it thick" and they'll just dump in another scoop of ice.)

For a creamy drink/ice pop that's 100% banana-free, try my super-quick piña coladas.

[dragon_moon]

That sounds really delicious, and definitely different than a traditional smoothie as far as flavor. Going to have to try it. :o)