Summer has arrived at our house and with that comes homemade ice cream. Of course! Ando I’m always primed and ready to give a new version a twirl (tee- hee).
While cleaning out the little freezer at the lake house this past weekend I discovered a mountain of frozen bananas. Well, maybe a small hill. But there were quite a few. You know how it is. You let bananas get a tad too ripe so you stick them in the freezer for smoothies or bread or muffins or pancakes… then, if you’re like me, you promptly forget they are in there.
Not one to waste food, I set my mind to thinking. I was not in a baking mood so that pretty much ruled out tons of ideas (I seem to be big on hyperboles today.); I’d already had a smoothie for breakfast and wasn’t interested in another. Ice cream. But not any ole’ ice cream.
David Lebovitz, guru of all things ice cream and author of The Perfect Scoop, has a recipe for roasted banana ice cream that had always sounded delicious but one that I had not gotten around to making in the several years I have owned the book.
I carted those frozen bananas home in a cooler (Hubby thought I was nuts.) and set about adapting Lebovitz’s recipe. All I can say is that I am very fortunate this only made slightly less than a quart of ice cream. Otherwise, I would be eating it for every meal. It’s just that good!
Ingredients
- 3- 4 fully ripe bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2- inch chunks
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 3 Tablespoons butter, unsalted, cut into small chunks
- 1 cup half and half (Fat free worked just fine.)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar, optional
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts (pecans would work as well)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a 2-quart baking dish with aluminum foil. Toss in the banana pieces, butter and dark brown sugar. Stir to coat the bananas.
- Bake for 20 minutes; stir then bake an additional 15-20 minutes until the bananas have browned and the sugar has caramelized. Watch carefully during the last 5 – 10 minutes.
- You want deep amber caramel, not burned.
- Scrape the bananas and syrup into a mixing bowl; add the remaining ingredients except for the walnuts and process with a hand-held blender until smooth. Alternatively, use a food processor or blender.
- Add the additional sugar if your bananas are not especially sweet.
- The riper (but not black) the bananas, the sweeter they will be.
- Chill thoroughly before freezing in your ice cream maker. I chilled mine overnight which worked well.
- Whisk well before pouring into your freezer container.
- Freeze according to your freezer manufacturer’s directions adding in the walnuts a few at a time while the freezer is turning. I used my tabletop maker --- love it!
- Place in a sealed container and allow to harden in the freezer at least 2 hours before serving. If it sits longer, it will become quite hard and you will need to allow it to sit for a while before serving.
- The flavors deepen as it ripens.
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Roasted Banana and Toasted Walnut Ice Cream
3- 4 fully ripe bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2- inch chunks
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons butter, unsalted, cut into small chunks
1 cup half and half (Fat free worked just fine.)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons sugar, optional
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts (pecans would work as well)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons butter, unsalted, cut into small chunks
1 cup half and half (Fat free worked just fine.)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons sugar, optional
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts (pecans would work as well)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line a 2-quart baking dish with aluminum foil. Toss in the banana pieces, butter and dark brown sugar. Stir to coat the bananas.
Bake for 20 minutes; stir then bake an additional 15-20 minutes until the bananas have browned and the sugar has caramelized. Watch carefully during the last 5 – 10 minutes.
You want deep amber caramel, not burned
Scrape the bananas and syrup into a mixing bowl; add the remaining ingredients except for the walnuts and process with a hand-held blender until smooth. Alternatively, use a food processor or blender.
Add the additional sugar if your bananas are not especially sweet. The riper (but not black) the bananas, the sweeter they will be.
Chill thoroughly before freezing in your ice cream maker. I chilled mine overnight which worked well. Whisk well before pouring into your freezer container. Freeze according to your freezer manufacturer’s directions adding in the walnuts a few at a time while the freezer is turning. I used my tabletop maker — love it!
Place in a sealed container and allow to harden in the freezer at least 2 hours before serving. If it sits longer, it will become quite hard and you will need to allow it to sit for a while before serving.
The flavors deepen as it ripens.
What are some of your favorite homemade ice cream flavors? I’d love for you to share them.
