Dairy-free ice-cream may seem like an oxymoron, but it's really for want of better words – how else describe something that has never been near a cow, yet tastes like Reese's Pieces with all the creaminess you'd expect from frozen dairy? Amazingly, the effect derives from the combination of stewed apple and peanut butter, a mixture I thought up after reading all about the chemistry of ice-cream in The Kitchen as Laboratory (Vega, Ubbink and van der Linden). Try a scoop of the ice-cream on these gluten-free banana waffles (if you don't have a waffle iron and happen to have a panini press sandwich toaster, you can use this instead).

Serves 4

For the ice-cream

1kg bramley apples (for 800g prepared weight)

150g sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

300g smooth peanut butter

¼ tsp salt

For the banana waffles

2 medium bananas

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

200g white gluten-free self-raising flour blend

2 tsp wheat-free baking powder

200ml soya milk

Vegetable oil for oiling

1 To make the ice cream, peel and core your apples. You need to stew 800g of prepared apples, so although I specified 1kg, you may actually need more. Chop the apple pieces roughly and place in a pan with the sugar and cinnamon. Cook on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until mushy.

2 Blend the apple with a stick blender till smooth. Add the peanut butter and salt while the puree is still warm. Whisk thoroughly, then place in the fridge.

3 If you have an ice-cream maker, allow the mix to churn for an hour before freezing in a suitable container. If you don't have an ice-cream maker, place the peanut butter mix in the freezer and whisk/blend in a food processor every half an hour for 3 hours. Keep frozen until needed and eat within a week.

4 For the waffles, mash the bananas then stir in the other ingredients until you have a smooth mixture. Oil your waffle iron and, when it's hot, add a dollop of mixture and close it. Cook each waffle for about 3 mins until golden brown. Continue until all the mixture is used.

What to watch out for

Check that your baking powder and spices do not have any added wheat flour. Some peanut butter may contain lactose.

Susanna Booth is a food writer and food stylist based in London; widecirclecooking.com