Banana Pudding Ice Cream

The instructions for the ice cream maker I found at a garage sale were quite simple – freeze container, turn on machine, fill container, wait 30 minutes. Settling on the first batch of ice cream to make was not so simple. In fact, it turned into a big deal.

So excited to make ice cream, I went out and bought The Perfect Scoop, an ice cream and frozen dessert cookbook by David Lebovitz, with anticipation of making one of the esoteric flavors like goat cheese ice cream or basil ice cream. My partner was not too excited about such flavors, and wanted something basic. After an entire night of debating ice cream flavors, we agreed on the classic Italian chocolate and hazelnut gelato.

A day packed with activities caused us to reach the grocery store most likely to have hazelnuts in stock at a time other than Christmas late in the day. The store was closed. The Crapme (Acme) had nothing but long lines moving no where. Long story a little shorter, I didn’t quite follow a recipe from David Lebovitz’s book, although it was my every intention to follow directions, but the world was against me. The first ice cream batch sucked – not the Perfect Scoop’s fault. Next time I'm going to add the recommended ingredients.

The world was working with me the next day. Really, I wanted banana pudding ice cream all along, but the boy said, "No." Thankfully, he went home and left me to my devices – and vices. Banana pudding is one of my favorite homemade desserts, and one of the first things I learned to cook by my grandmother’s side when I was young. Banana pudding is made with vanilla custard cooked over a stove, not banana Jell-O pudding. If this is all you’ve ever had, you’ve not had banana pudding.

Hmm, custard that goes in banana pudding is exactly like custard that goes in ice cream. I cracked open The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook in hopes of finding a banana pudding recipe, but there wasn’t one. There was a recipe for banana pudding ice cream, though. Sweet ice cream Jesus, my prayers have been answered.

This ice cream tastes exactly like homemade banana pudding, and the texture is perfect – perfect! – after a day in the freezer. I almost considered charging myself $5.89 per scoop, it was so good.

I added more vanilla wafers to the recipe, and think it could stand for even more, but I’ll print it as I made it. (The additional wafers are the only deviation from the original recipe.)

Banana Pudding Ice Cream
Makes about 1 quart
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt and Ted Lee

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 ripe bananas, sliced in half crosswise and lengthwise
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 large egg yolks
⅓ cup sugar
1 ½ cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
14 2-inch vanilla wafers, coarsely chopped

• Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until frothy. Add brown sugar and sauté the sugar until it bubbles, abut 1 ½ minutes. Add bananas, stir and turn in sugar for about 1 ½ minutes until softened.
• Pour rum over bananas in skillet, and let cook for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol (important, or else ice cream won’t freeze). Place contents of the skillet in a blender or processor.
• Beat the egg yolks with a whisk, then add the sugar and beat until the mixture is a light yellow color, about 1 ½ minutes.
• Warm the milk over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, until a thermometer reads 150° (6-8 minutes). Pour ½ cup of the hot milk in the blender with the banana mixture, and puree for 1 minute.
• Add the remaining hot milk slowly to the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the thermometer reads 170° (8-10 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spoon). Turn off the heat.
• Add the banana mixture to the custard and whisk for 1 ½ minutes. Let the custard cool to room temperature, then whisk in the cream.
• Refrigerate for 4 hours or until the custard is cold. (I skipped this part with no resulting problems.)
• Poor mixture into the ice cream maker and churn. A few minutes before the ice cream is done, add the cookie bits and churn for a few more minutes.
• Eat right away for instant, soft ice cream gratification. Freeze ice cream in the freezer to harden.