Pear Raspberry Chardonnay Ice Cream Bars + Yonanas® Review

It's summer, so naturally I reach for frozen treats more often than an actual meal. It's the child in me, I suppose. That child likes all things fruity, chilled and covered in chocolate. These Pear Raspberry Chardonnay Ice Cream Bars are not only ridiculously easy to make, they are just as ridiculously tasty.

By now, you have heard all about banana ice cream - 1 frozen banana, a few minutes in a food processor and BOOM! I love the stuff! So, when I was contacted about reviewing the Yonanas® Classic Dessert Maker, name aside, I was super curious to see how it would stack up.

Basically, it churns frozen fruit into soft-serve *ice cream* without the dairy. This set my lactose-intolerant gut all aflutter.

Image courtesy of Yonanas®

The uint itself is fairly compact and resembles a basic juicer. It is easy to use - slightly thawed, frozen fruit is placed in the chute in an alternating fashion and comes out the other end with the help of a plunger. (ok, let's not go there...) The end result is a bowl of delicious fruit that resembles soft-serve ice cream (when bananas are used), or sorbet (when only fruit) in texture. All without an ice cream maker and no added sugar, saturated fat or cholesterol. YUM! It also comes with recipe booklet to get you started on your way to a delicious summer.

On the flip-side... the machine is noisy. Probably equal to that of my food processor and blender, but for its size, I was not expecting that level of noise. Also, when making this type of fruit ice cream in my food processor, I can immediately use the frozen fruit from my freezer. With the Yonanas®, the fruits need to thaw slightly before you can run them through the machine. I didn't bother to follow this one little step the first time around and although the end product was tasty, the texture was disappointing. When I allowed the fruit to thaw at room temperature for about ten minutes, it produced a much better texture.

Finally, once disassembled, there was a lot of fruit left in the machine (see photo below). Fortunately, it was surprisingly easy to scoop off, making clean-up and reassembly a cinch.

I decided to make ice cream bars using one of my favourite molds to see how the ice cream would hold up in comparison to my Banana Hazelnut Espresso Ice Cream Pops. This one wasn't as melty during the chocolate application which made working with it much easier and less rushed. Still, I am a little hesitant to recommend one over the other as the same variables were not applied.

Which brings me to whether I would purchase this myself. I own an ice cream maker attachment for my KA, a good quality food processor and an even better quality blender (eeek! just thinking about them makes me want to purge...), so I really couldn't justify this purchase.

Were I not already in possession of those items, I would likely get one. It does what it says and fairly well at that, with very little effort. It would be a great addition to summer parties and barbeques - imagine setting out a plethora of fruits and having guests make their very own customized frozen treats. I imagine it might be a fun addition to kids' parties, as well. Heck, I've whipped up a batch for breakfast (sans alcohol, of course)! Ice cream for breakfast, people!!!
If you are interested in picking up a Yonanas® to help bring a little sweet chill to your summer, its available for purchase from Canadian Tire, Walmart and Loblaws in Canada. You can also find it on Amazon.

{Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Yonanas®, however, all opinions and content are my own, unless otherwise stated. This post also contains affiliate links.}

Pear Raspberry Chardonnay Ice Cream Bars

Print Recipe

Course: Dessert

Servings: 0

Author: I Sugar Coat It (adapted from Yonanas)

Ingredients

• 2 frozen ripe bananas
• ¾ cup frozen pear sliced
• ¼ cup frozen raspberries
• 2 frozen cubes of chardonnay freeze leftover wine in ice-cube trays

Instructions

• Remove frozen fruit from freezer and allow to sit at room temperature for a few minutes.
• Insert 1 frozen banana.
• Add ½ cup frozen pear.
• Add all the raspberries.
• Add the 2 cubes of chardonnay.
• Insert remaining banana.
• Add remaining frozen pear.
• Stir in bowl until evenly combined.
• Enjoy immediately, or store in freezer.
• To make the ice-cream bars, place in a mold of your choosing and freeze for at least four hours.
• Coat with melted chocolate.

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