I’ve been wanting to try making a banana ice cream for a while now, but it’s always tricky using fruit because of all the water that causes the ice cream to be icy. I decided to cook the bananas with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and then blend it all up with the ice cream mix. It came out great and the nuts add a nice crunch.

Bananas:
3 medium-sized, extremely ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
pinch of salt

Ice Cream Mix:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Extra:
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

(makes about one quart)

The outside of the bananas should be almost completely covered in brown spots, to make sure they’re ripe enough to be sweet and soft inside. They may not look great, but they’ll still be yellow on the inside and they’ll be perfect for making ice cream.

Slice the bananas and cook them in a pan with the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, and salt on medium heat, stirring occasionally. After 20-30 minutes the water will be mostly cooked out and the bananas will soften almost into a paste. You should end up with about 3/4 to 1 cup of cooked bananas.

Follow the instructions in my Sweet Cream Base post to make the ice cream mix. Let the mix cool and then combine the ice cream mix, vanilla, and bananas in a blender. Chill the mix to 40° F (5° C) or below and then churn in an ice cream machine. After removing the ice cream from the machine, fold in the chopped nuts and then harden the ice cream in the freezer.

 Share this post:  Facebook ⋅ digg ⋅ del.icio.us ⋅ Technorati
 Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment