Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Earlier this week, I joined forces with Kayte, Mary Ann and Margaret via Twitter to churn some ice cream. Kayte asked me to choose the flavor and as I flipped through The Perfect Scoop, the roasted banana ice cream caught my eye. It was about 95 degrees out on this particular day, so I wasn't thrilled about the idea of roasting bananas at 400 F for 40 minutes, but in the end I deemed it a small price to pay to try banana ice cream :)

Aside from roasting the bananas, this recipe is quick and easy - no egg yolks to temper or custard to cook - just toss the bananas with milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt, chill and churn! After churning, I stuck the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours and then tried it. The flavor was quite intense! I suppose this goes without saying, but if you don't love bananas, this is probably not the ice cream for you. I like bananas a lot and I still found the banana flavor just a bit too strong. I threw some cinnamon chips in for texture with the serving in these photos, but I really long to make a yummy peanut butter sauce to serve on top of this ice cream. I think the combination of banana and peanut butter wold be terrific, I just haven't found a great recipe for peanut butter topping. If you have one, I'd love to hear about it!

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

3 medium ripe bananas, peeled

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter, salted or unsalted, cut into small pieces

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Slice the bananas into 1/2-inch pieces and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until bananas are browned and cooked through.

Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup in the baking dish into a food processor (or blender). Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt and process until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge and then churn it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the chilled mixture is too thick to pour into the ice cream maker, whisking will thin it out.

Makes 1 quart.