Creamy Banana Ice Cream from Real Bananas

[u/MaiBMaiBNot]

We have two bananafanatics in the family and they purchase pints of local ice cream ($10/pint) that they rate as better than meh, but not exquisite. Both have late August birthdays and I'll make their favorite banana cake with cream cheese frosting and thought I'd make some banana ice cream to go along with it (already have a batch of lavender vanilla under construction for nonbananafanatics). Does anybody have a fabulous banana ice cream recipe? No nuts or graham crackers preferred. I have the Cuisinart ICE-21, if that matters. Thank you!

[u/pmdboi]

RED HOT BANANA

modified from Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book after experimentation; my notes are in [square brackets]

YIELD: 1-1/2 quarts [book claims 1 quart, but the bananas and brown sugar add significant volume]

INGREDIENTS

• 3 ripe bananas, sliced
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 tsp salt [book says 1 tsp but that is too much IME]
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Red Hot candies [book says chopped, but I found that they just stuck to the knife and each other]

METHOD

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, combine the bananas, brown sugar, and water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bananas are completely mushy, about 5 minutes [book says about 10 minutes, but the bananas went mushy very quickly for me]. (Watch out for burning. Burning is bad.) Transfer to a blender, reserving the saucepan. Process the banana mixture to a smooth purée. Set aside.
2. Fill a large bowl or pan with ice and water. Place a large, clean bowl in the ice bath and fit the bowl with a fine-mesh strainer.
3. In the reserved saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until hot but not boiling.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the banana purée, egg yolks, and granulated sugar until well blended. [The mixture may all end up stuck in the whisk; that's OK, it'll loosen once you start adding the cream in the next step.]
5. Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Slowly pour about half of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Transfer the yolk mixture back to the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and return it to medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula and being sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan so it doesn't scorch, until the liquid begins to steam and you can feel the spatula scrape against the bottom of the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. [I used a thermometer and stopped cooking once it reached 180°F.]
6. Remove the custard from the heat and immediately pour it through the strainer into the clean bowl you set up in the ice bath. Let cool, stirring occasionally.
7. Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and spin according to the manufacturer's instructions. Right after spinning, fold in the Red Hots. Eat immediately, or transfer to an airtight container, cover, and freeze for up to 1 week.

[u/TravelerMSY → u/pmdboi]

Wow. I’ll bet cooking the sugar and bananas first really makes it good.

[u/msarver95]

I really like just steeping the bananas in the base on the warmer for a couple hours. I use the salt and straw base but I feel like almost any base would work. I’m shocked how much flavor it gets. One of my favorite flavors to make.

[u/WhaleMeatFantasy]

Personally I’d avoid blending. Bananas are starchy and I hate the gloopy texture you get. You can just infuse bananas in initially hot milk overnight then strain and carry on with any neutral base. 

[u/TravelerMSY]

Scroll back with the keyword banana. There was one on here a while back that was pretty good. It essentially had bananas steeped in the base and then blended it. Also used instant vanilla pudding mix instead of eggs. It was going for a banana pudding vibe, but you could probably leave that out.

[u/GlasKarma]

I just made this banana cream pie ice cream that turned out really delicious. It was pretty heavy though and a bit too sweet for my taste, so I’d probably lessen the sweetened condensed milk and maybe add milk to it. The flavor is fantastic though. Oh and it’s a small recipe so you may want to at least double it.

[u/Ok_Inflation_3746]

David Lebovitz' roasted banana icecream recipe banana icecream recipe. I use this, add some fresh banana, a stabilized whipped cream swirl, instant vanilla pudding mix blended in, and nilla wafers to make a superior banana pudding. Furthermore, you could swirl in a roasted banana jam or banana curd to take it over the top.

[u/Sewers_folly]

I like rose levy baurenbaums recipe. She makes a custard base then steeps overripe bananas in it over night. Remove the bananas and then make you're ice cream. 

I made bars with this, dipping them in chocolate... it is like eating frozen bananas. So good.

Rose's Ice Cream Bliss, Rose Levy Beranbaum. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=FFCdDwAAQBAJ

Edit.. reviewing the recipe it looksl like she heats up milks and glucose then steeps bananas for an hour then in fridge overnight. Strain bananas and then make your custard. 

I love all her recipes. The Book is well worth it, and she is very exact in her writings, way better my summary.

[u/39948]

More than sweet on substack has good banana sorbet recipe, when I’ve tested recipes that infuse flavour they weren’t that strong, 

[u/Errvalunia]

Do you have a favorite base recipe? Just heat the dairy and steep a few sliced up bananas in (3 for a quart of base) overnight and then strain

[u/WhynterAppliance]

I would love a sugar-free version, using only bananas.