Roasted Banana Ice Cream

I know I'm not alone in the fact that I enjoy eating ice cream all year long.  It could be below freezing temperatures outside and I'd still want some ice cream!  I recently decided I wanted to make some ice cream but I wanted to do something "different".  We had a few bananas that had to be used up and I decided this was the perfect excuse to make ice cream!

Even though I like bananas, I'm not usually a fan of banana flavored things-I think it might be that I don't like artificially flavored banana foods-because I really enjoyed this ice cream.  You don't need to eat a lot  to satisfy you-a little bit of this ice cream really goes a long way! 

This ice cream is really easy to make-it does not require the additional step of a making a custard like a lot of ice cream recipes do.  The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups whole milk, but I only had 3/4 of a cup left, so I combined milk and heavy cream.  I thought that it turned out to be the perfect consistency and would definitely make that substitution again.  

David Lebovitz actually recommends using it as a twist on a modern ice cream sundae-add some hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and a cherry and you'll be set!  Unfortunately, this ice cream didn't last long enough in our house to give that a try this time but I would love to try that in the future! 

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

3 medium sized bananas, peeled
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the bananas into ½ inch pieces and combine them with the brown sugar and butter in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until bananas are browned and cooked through.

Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt and puree until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator or freezer, then freeze it in your ice cream makers according to manufacturer’s instructions. If the chilled mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisking it will thin it out.

Source: Slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz