The presents under the tree may be unwrapped, but if you’re like me you still have a pile of candy canes sitting in your house or on your tree. Rather than continue to eat them for the next week or more, I decided to make a recipe that would use them up in a hurry. Peppermint Nice Cream is a simple 5-ingredient that’s naturally gluten free and dairy free. As a child, I remember eating peppermint ice cream and loving it, so I thought it would be fun to re-create this in a homemade version that’s safe for our family.
To freeze or not to freeze – well, it’s really up to you and how long you want to wait to eat the Peppermint Nice Cream. You can serve it right away and sprinkle the candy canes on top, like you see pictured above. Or, you can transfer the blended nice cream into a freezer safe container and freeze it for one hour so that it scoops like this. Either way, it will taste delicious!

Peppermint Nice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 large frozen bananas
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops peppermint extract
- 3 candy canes
Instructions
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Unwrap your candy canes and place between two paper towels. This reduces the messy clean up.
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Take a mallet or bottom of a glass and crush the candy canes up.
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Add the crushed candy canes to a bowl and set aside.
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In a blender, combine all of the ingredients except for the candy canes and blend until smooth. Start with 1 drop of peppermint and taste it before adding the second drop as a little bit of peppermint extract goes a long way. Tip: It's easier if you slice the bananas before you freeze them, but if you have them whole then it will just take a little bit longer to blend them up.
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Serve right away with the left over crushed candy canes sprinkled on top, OR transfer the blended nice cream to a freezer safe container.
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If freezing it, mix half of the crushed candy canes into the mixture, using a spatula to combine them.
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Freeze for 1 hour.
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Remove from freezer, scoop into serving bowls.
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Enjoy!
What a great idea! My kids would love this.
Why haven’t I ever thought of slicing the bananas before? I bet my non-banana-loving toddler will love this.
Now that’s a tasty idea – and I have all the ingredients on hand! Just need to freeze those bananas.
This looks so yummy! I love peppermint everything this time of year.
That’s a super cute way to use up candy canes.
ah, GREAT idea! we do have some candy canes AND chocolates left over… I may add BOTH! 🙂