Aren’t bananas SO yummy? It’s one of the fruits I could eat at any time of day. Banana ice cream is delicious, and the banana helps us give it that creamy texture we love. Also the almond praline makes it really crunchy and it goes great with the banana.
I think that what I like most about this banana ice cream recipe is that it has less steps than my other ice cream recipes that don’t require an ice cream machine (for ice cream machine instructions look at the last line on the recipe). With this one you skip a step because the banana helps us achieve the creamy texture we’re looking for when we whip the ice cream twice on the other recipes. Therefore on this one you only need to freeze your crème anglaise and the banana and then give them a go at the food processor.
The praline you can use with any type of nut and it’s a nice thing to have in your repertoire because you can add it to plenty desserts or even on top of cheeses for a sweet touch. It’s a good thing to keep a few grams of it in an airtight container as a lifeguard to improvise.
I’m obsessed with making ice cream. I don’t ever want to buy them again! They’re really amazing what you can achieve by using good ingredients because sometimes cheap ice creams will add food colouring or artificial flavours. Contrastingly, with these homemade ice creams you know they have milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and whatever ingredient you use to add flavour.
Since there’s quite a few hours between each process I recommend that you spread the jobs out between a few days: on day one in the morning you can make the crème anglaise and freeze it along with the bananas and praline. On that night or the next day you can put them in the food processor (not the praline, mind you) and then on the next day it’s good to eat 🙂 No fuzz, just a bit of organization 😉
Seriously though, this banana ice cream is SERIOUSLY good. I wish I had done it before now I think I’m not getting over it LOL.
Ingredients
For the banana ice cream
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 200 g sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 500 ml whipping cream
- 500 ml whole milk
- 2 tbsp manjar blanco from above
- 800 g bananas (weight with peel) or 600g banana pulp
For the almond praline
- 100 g almonds
- 120 g sugar
Instructions
For the banana ice cream
- Peel, chop and freeze the bananas completely. Try to make the slices not be one on top of the other to make it easier for your food processor later.
- Put in a pot the cream, milk, vanilla essence and half the sugar (roughly).
- Add the other half of the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk immediately as the yolks form a skin if the sugar is on them for a while.
- Heat up the milk and cream until steam comes out (not boiling).
- Add roughly a quarter of the milk on the egg yolks and whisk really fast so you don't make scrambled yolks. Then add the rest with confidence and whisk.
- Pass through a sieve and into the pot again and cook on medium-low heat while stirring.
- Cook until you get coating consistency which is when you take your spoon or spatula out from the mix and if you make a line with your finger across it's not erased immediately. You know you're close to this point when the foam on top of the mix disappears. Don't over-cook it or it will split.
- Transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking process and wait for it to cool down to room temperature.
- Transfer to a large container (so it freezes faster) and take to the freezer until completely solid (6-8 hours).
For the almond praline
- Make a direct caramel by first adding only a thin layer of sugar on a pan.
- After a while on medium-low heat you'll see that on certain patches it will start to melt. As this happens sprinkle more sugar (still thin layers) on them.
- At one point you're going to want to stir it but don't because putting a spatula or spoon it will make it cristalize. Instead use the handle of the pan to move everything around if you need it.
- Once it's all melted and golden (if it' too dark it turns bitter), turn off the heat and immediately add the almonds and stir them in really quickly (now you can use a spatula). Once they're coated, transfer to a silpat or baking paper on a heat resistant surface. Be reaaaaally careful because this is HOT so keep kids away for this step.
- Once they're completely cool you can chop it up to the size you prefer. I wanted it chunky so I could feel it in the ice cream.
- Keep in the freezer while we wait for the crème anglaise and bananas to freeze so it doesn't melt the ice cream when we mix it in.
Assembly
- Put the crème anglaise and bananas in the food processor on high until completely smooth,
- Mix the ice cream with the praline and transfer to the freezer until completely frozen and then we can eat it.
Notes
