This was an accidental concoction. One of those instances when you are with a friend (actually the ex-Boy who was missing my healthy sweets) when asked to ‘create something’ for dessert. Knowing that there would be very few ingredients to hand I rummaged through the food cupboards on a mission….

Luckily, I chanced upon these ingredients, he’s vegan so I had figured I’d be able to pull something out of the bag! The packet of carob flour was also once mine that I given him a few months back to jazz up his protein shakes and oats….so it came into good use here.

There are two really great things about this recipe:

1- It is so easy to through together with a simple hand blender (or any blender)

2- It has a lovely subtle sweetness with none of the ingredients dominating to overall taste 9yet you can taste the banana but it is not overly dominant)

I loved this shake so much I made another the very next day for it’s own photoshoot…any excuse, right?  I haven’t tried this but I would think you could also add a handful of crushed ice to the mix to slightly reduce the richness of the shake without reducing the overall thickness, this would also give it a cooling summer chill.

The carob in this recipe gives a lovely caramelly sweetness that really compliments the bananas, the peanut butter adds a full flavoured nutty richness. You could use any nut butter but the peanut butter flavour works really well to balance the carob and banana. Similarly, you could swap cocoa for carob but you would loose the subtle caramelly tones and also since carob is naturally sweet you’d need to add some extra sweetener.

Perfect serve up with some super-healthy fudge …I just can’t stop making this stuff!!

Recipe: Banoffee milkshake

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1 medium ripe banana

1 ½ cups ‘milk’ (I used soy)

2 tbs peanut butter

½ tsp cinnamon

2 tsp carob

1-2 tsp agave to sweeten (if needed)

Method

Blend together until totally smooth. Pour into glasses and serve. Chilling is optional.

Note: add a handful of crushed ice for a cooler shake.

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