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I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve posted an ice cream recipe here. Truth be told, I’ve only actually made ice cream twice this whole summer, including this. Kind of shameful considering the fact that I just received my first ever ice cream maker in May and just knew I was going to use the beezejesus out of it. You see, previously as I registered for it and confidently shot my laser gun at the tiny little skew number, Kevin not-so-subtly rolled his eyes and asked if we really “needed” an ice cream maker. My immediate response was an emphatic, “Umm YES. Do you even know how often I’ll use this? All the time!” I mean, I was going to have made hundreds of different flavors of ice cream by now. Hundreds.
Oops.
Every single solitary week I would have the greatest of intentions to bring the machine up from the basement laundry room, and every week I either forgot to put the base in the freezer or just didn’t have the time. I mean, ice cream making is a long process. You have to freeze the base (for at least 24 hours), you have to make the custard, you have to chill the custard, you have to make the components to go into the custard, you must churn the ice cream, and then you must freeze the finished product (again, preferably for 24 hours).
Sounds daunting, I know, BUT homemade ice cream is sooo worth the extra effort, and often I forget that.
With the fleeting summer days slipping through our fingers, I knew I needed to get on it or get over it.
So that’s what I did.
Enter: Banana Bread Ice Cream with Stracciatella Swirl. This has all my favorite flavors that encompass traditional banana bread: brown sugar, overly ripe caramelized bananas and cinnamon. The custard base is a little untraditional with a little bit more whole milk than heavy whipping cream, so the texture is a little less rich on the palate – which I love, but you could totally use all heavy cream if that’s what you prefer.
I like my banana bread with chopped walnuts, but again you can leave them out if you prefer. Once the ice cream is almost done churning I drizzled in a swirl of melted chocolate mixed up with a bit of vegetable oil. What I love about this step is the moment that chocolate touches the ice cream it immediately hardens again, creating a gorgeous swirl laced throughout.
I’m claiming this as a “summer” ice cream, but really the flavors feel much more like fall to me; I think maybe I’m trying to hold on to summer while slowly letting the fall in. Ice cream seems like a good way to go about it, don’t you think?
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 4 ounces chocolate 2 teaspoons
- Vegetable oil
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
- Place the ice cream base in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
- In a large sauce pan combine the milk, heavy cream and sugars. Heat over a medium flame until the sugar has dissolved, do not let it boil. Reduce heat to a medium-low.
- In a bowl whisk eggs together.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, VERY slowly whisk in about a cup and half of the cream and milk mixture to the eggs to bring them up to temperature. Slowly whisk the egg and cream mixture back into the sugar, milk and cream. Stir the mixture over a medium-low flame with a wooden spoon until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of the wooden spoon. This should take about five minutes.
- Pour the custard into a bowl, that placed over ice water and stir to cool. Let cool to room temperature then store in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
- Once ready to churn the ice cream, take your base out of the freezer and pour custard mixture in. Churn the ice cream according to your machine’s instructions.
- While the ice cream is churning, place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, heat in 20 second intervals until melted. Stir in vegetable oil.
- Once the ice cream is almost done, slowly drizzle in chocolate, it should harden as it touches the ice cream, creating a swirl throughout. Toss in the nuts.
- Transfer to a container and freeze for a few hours, but preferably over 6.
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