Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year’s spent with their loved ones. I haven’t been cooking as much this past week, partly because I was in a cooking/baking frenzy Christmas week and wanted a break. But now, I’m back in full swing! So here’s my first post for 2009. I wish you all a happy, healthy New Year 
In my family, we go bananas every now and then. My mom used to make fried bananas whenever they would ripen, and we would eat them with some vanilla ice cream for a treat. I had some bananas that were ripening on my kitchen counter and didn’t feel like making them into banana bread, as I usually do with overripe bananas. We seldomly buy ice cream from the store because we don’t want to eat it more than we should, so I thought it would be perfect to make a little banana ice cream to ring in the New Year. I adapted a recipe from David Lebovitz’s book, “The Perfect Scoop,” that my oldest friend Phi gave to me. Instead of using whole milk (since I didn’t have on hand anyways), I use 1/2 cup of half-and-half, and substitute the rest of the milk with fat-free milk. Don’t use fat-free half-and-half here; fat is needed to make the ice cream smooth and creamy. If you use all fat-free products, you’ll end up with ice crystals in your ice cream when you freeze it. Also, it has a bunch of fillers that have no place in ice cream, in my opinion.
Caramelized Banana Ice Cream
Makes about 3 cups
2 large, overripe (black spots on the peel mean they’ll be ripe and good for this recipe!) bananas, peeled and slices into 1/2″ thick slices
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup half-and-half (do not use fat-free)
1 cup skim milk
2 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a 2-qt baking dish, combine the bananas, brown sugar, and butter. Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until bananas are caramelized and bubbly.
2. Scrape the bananas with the syrup from the baking dish into a food processor. Add the half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and sea salt. Puree all ingredients until smooth.
3. Pour the ice cream mixture into a 2-qt plastic container, and cover. Refrigerate overnight or until completely chilled.
4. When you’re ready to make your ice cream, chill according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I froze my ice cream bowl overnight, and it took about 20 minutes to make in the ice cream maker. When finished, put the ice cream in a plastic container with a lid and store in the freezer.
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year’s spent with their loved ones. I haven’t been cooking as much this past week, partly because I was in a cooking/baking frenzy Christmas week and wanted a break. But now, I’m back in full swing! So here’s my first post for 2009. I wish you all a happy, healthy New Year
In my family, we go bananas every now and then. My mom used to make fried bananas whenever they would ripen, and we would eat them with some vanilla ice cream for a treat. I had some bananas that were ripening on my kitchen counter and didn’t feel like making them into banana bread, as I usually do with overripe bananas. We seldomly buy ice cream from the store because we don’t want to eat it more than we should, so I thought it would be perfect to make a little banana ice cream to ring in the New Year. I adapted a recipe from David Lebovitz’s book, “The Perfect Scoop,” that my oldest friend Phi gave to me. Instead of using whole milk (since I didn’t have on hand anyways), I use 1/2 cup of half-and-half, and substitute the rest of the milk with fat-free milk. Don’t use fat-free half-and-half here; fat is needed to make the ice cream smooth and creamy. If you use all fat-free products, you’ll end up with ice crystals in your ice cream when you freeze it. Also, it has a bunch of fillers that have no place in ice cream, in my opinion.
Caramelized Banana Ice Cream
Makes about 3 cups
2 large, overripe (black spots on the peel mean they’ll be ripe and good for this recipe!) bananas, peeled and slices into 1/2″ thick slices
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup half-and-half (do not use fat-free)
1 cup skim milk
2 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a 2-qt baking dish, combine the bananas, brown sugar, and butter. Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until bananas are caramelized and bubbly.
2. Scrape the bananas with the syrup from the baking dish into a food processor. Add the half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and sea salt. Puree all ingredients until smooth.
3. Pour the ice cream mixture into a 2-qt plastic container, and cover. Refrigerate overnight or until completely chilled.
4. When you’re ready to make your ice cream, chill according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I froze my ice cream bowl overnight, and it took about 20 minutes to make in the ice cream maker. When finished, put the ice cream in a plastic container with a lid and store in the freezer.
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year’s spent with their loved ones. I haven’t been cooking as much this past week, partly because I was in a cooking/baking frenzy Christmas week and wanted a break. But now, I’m back in full swing! So here’s my first post for 2009. I wish you all a happy, healthy New Year
In my family, we go bananas every now and then. My mom used to make fried bananas whenever they would ripen, and we would eat them with some vanilla ice cream for a treat. I had some bananas that were ripening on my kitchen counter and didn’t feel like making them into banana bread, as I usually do with overripe bananas. We seldomly buy ice cream from the store because we don’t want to eat it more than we should, so I thought it would be perfect to make a little banana ice cream to ring in the New Year. I adapted a recipe from David Lebovitz’s book, “The Perfect Scoop,” that my oldest friend Phi gave to me. Instead of using whole milk (since I didn’t have on hand anyways), I use 1/2 cup of half-and-half, and substitute the rest of the milk with fat-free milk. Don’t use fat-free half-and-half here; fat is needed to make the ice cream smooth and creamy. If you use all fat-free products, you’ll end up with ice crystals in your ice cream when you freeze it. Also, it has a bunch of fillers that have no place in ice cream, in my opinion.
Caramelized Banana Ice Cream
Makes about 3 cups
2 large, overripe (black spots on the peel mean they’ll be ripe and good for this recipe!) bananas, peeled and slices into 1/2″ thick slices
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup half-and-half (do not use fat-free)
1 cup skim milk
2 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a 2-qt baking dish, combine the bananas, brown sugar, and butter. Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until bananas are caramelized and bubbly.
2. Scrape the bananas with the syrup from the baking dish into a food processor. Add the half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and sea salt. Puree all ingredients until smooth.
3. Pour the ice cream mixture into a 2-qt plastic container, and cover. Refrigerate overnight or until completely chilled.
4. When you’re ready to make your ice cream, chill according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I froze my ice cream bowl overnight, and it took about 20 minutes to make in the ice cream maker. When finished, put the ice cream in a plastic container with a lid and store in the freezer.