I made this ice cream in honor of my cousin and her fiancee when they came to visit. I really had no excuse other than that. That, and everyone agrees it tastes fabulous. How fabulous? It’s quite possibly the best ice cream I’ve ever made.
For 1 liter of ice cream:
1 cup demarara sugar
4 very ripe bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
40 g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk
1 cup cream (32%)
1 cup pecans, minced
Heat the sugar in a thick-bottomed pot, until it begins to melt, but don’t let it burn. Add the butter and the banana. Cook until the banana is falling apart, and the mixture is relatively smooth. Make sure there are no solid chunks of sugar (they should melt as you continue cooking). Add the vanilla and about 1/4 cup of milk; at this point, you can set aside a quarter of the banana mixture to add at the end in order to make a swirl pattern.
Add the rest of the milk to the remaining banana, and let cool.
Add the cream and prepare in your ice cream maker, according to the instructions. When the ice cream looks done, add the chopped pecans, and let the machine run until they’re fully integrated into the ice cream.
As you’re spooning the ice cream out of the machine and into a container, mix in the rest of the banana.
Put into the freezer to harden.
