Caramelized Banana Ice Cream

A couple of years ago, my sister in law Monica shared a quick and easy dessert idea with me. She sliced up a couple of bananas, sprinkled them with a little brown sugar and cinnamon and popped them under the broiler for just a minute so the sugar caramelized and turned into a syrup-ish kinda thing. While it’s still hot, you dump it over a bowl of vanilla ice cream and it’s the most yummy thing ever. I made it recently and when I got to the bottom of the bowl I had some melted vanilla ice cream that was all combined with the cinnamon-brown sugar goodness and some remnants of mushed caramelized banana. The flavors were so heavenly, and it was at that moment I knew I needed to turn it into an ice cream flavor of its own.

My experiment didn’t disappoint. I slow roasted bananas in brown sugar and cinnamon and then mixed it in a super easy {no cook!} base. The banana flavor is mild, but it’s the perfect amount of sweetness and the brown sugar and cinnamon round out the flavor palate. I know a lot of people have issues with cooked bananas- and if you’re one of those people, don’t fret. I puree the caramelized bananas into the ice cream, so all you get is the amazing flavor and extra creaminess!

Caramelized Banana Ice Cream
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4 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2-1″ segments
1/4 C brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 T real butter, melted

2 C heavy cream
1 C whole milk (vit D milk)
1/2 C white sugar
1/4 t salt
2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a 9 x 13″ baking dish with foil and place bananas in it. Sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter over bananas and toss well with hands. Spread bananas out in a single layer.

Bake bananas (in your 400 degree preheated oven) for 15 minutes. Stir, and bake for 15 more. Remove from oven and cool on counter top. By this point you will have a scrumptious, thick syrup in there too.

While bananas are cooking combine cream, whole milk, white sugar, salt, and vanilla. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Set in fridge to chill.

When bananas are completely cooled, puree them in a food processor* until completely smooth. Using a whisk, stir them into the milk mixture until combined. Chill entire mixture.

Churn in an ice cream maker and transfer to an air tight container in the freezer to set up. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

*If you don’t have a food processor, you can use your blender. If you choose to do so, leave the whole milk out of the original milk mixture and use the milk to puree with the bananas. Don’t put the cream mixture in the blender after, make sure to whisk them both together by hand.

Note: The roasted bananas in this recipe make the ice cream incredibly soft and smooth, but it may be softer than usual when coming straight out of your ice cream maker so it’s important to let the ice cream set in the freezer for a few hours before eating.

After I took the picture above, I started to wonder what I could add to it. Nuts? Coconut? Cookies? My husband told me not to mess with a good thing and I’m glad I took his advice. (Although one thing still on my list is to make it into ice cream sandwiches with these cookies) It’s perfect just the way it is. But I could think of just one thing that would make it irrisistable.

Wait for it…

Ya, that’s what I’m talking about.

Get the recipe for Kate’s buttermilk caramel syrup here.
And then go make yourself a bowl of this:

The only other thing that can make home made ice cream any better than it already is are homemade waffle cones. I make mini ones and they’re perfect for my mini monkeys.