Smooth, creamy, cold treats are a perfect match for hot Beijing summer days. Read on for three simple, healthier alternatives to sugar-rich ice cream after the jump. Best of all, none of them require an ice cream machine.

Sugar-Free Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream
Pictured above this two ingredient dessert is paleo, vegan, sugar-free: basically you can serve this to the very pickiest of eaters!

Avocado Ice Cream Recipe
Slightly more ingredients, but still a cinch to put together and full of healthy fats.

One-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream
Despite the giveaway title, somehow this is still a ten step recipe… thekitchn.com may be over complicating the instructions slightly! With suggestion on how to take the base recipe and make ten different flavors.

Photos: Courtesy of InSonnetsKitchen.com, HealthExtremist.com, and thekitchn.com

"VINCENT: Did you just order a five-dollar shake?"
"MIA: Sure did."
"VINCENT: A shake? Milk and ice cream?"
"MIA: Uh-huh."
"VINCENT: It costs five dollars?"
"MIA: Yep."
"VINCENT: You don’t put bourbon in it or anything?"
"WAITER: Nope."

This famous scene from Pulp Fiction raised the question for many people: what would a USD 5 milkshake taste like? Beijingers can find out at any Fatburger outlet in our fine city.

Fatburger’s milkshakes cost USD 6.12, or more relevantly for us, CNY 38. They’re made with real milk and ice cream, just like Mia ordered, and come topped with whipped cream. On a hot summer day, this might just be the coolest treat in Beijing. It’s thick, it’s rich, and it probably will make finishing Fatburger’s Triple King quite difficult.

The milkshakes are available in three flavors – vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry – at any of Fatburger’s three locations in Beijing, at the Grand Summit (near the Kempinski Hotel), in the basement of China World Tower 3, and now in Shunyi.

This post appeared on thebeijinger.com on June 16, 2014

Photo courtesy of CamEvans