'B' is for....banana spice ice-cream

It's a little on the late side, but here is my second "Cooking A-Z" ice-cream post. On the menu today? Banana spice ice-cream. I've thrown together some ripe bananas and various spices from the rack, a handful of brown sugar, a few eggs, a splash of vanilla and a sprinkling of walnuts to make what I think is an excellent mélange of "yum". This recipe could be taken to the next level if the vanilla extract was substituted for half a vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks took the place of the ground stuff (clearly I need to shop...like urgently!). In any case, this is a quick, easy ice-cream that will certainly please any banana cake lover!

Banana spice ice-cream

Serves 6-8

2 ripe bananas

1 cup milk

250ml cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 whole star anise

3 egg yolks

a handful or two of walnuts

In a saucepan, mix together milk, cream, vanilla and spices.

Blitz bananas in a food processor until smooth and add to spiced cream mixture.

Heat until boiling (stirring regularly).

Take off heat and set aside for around 30 minutes to allow the spices to really penetrate through the mixture.

Put mix back on heat and, when hot, stir through egg yolks. 

Whisk constantly over a low heat, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove from heat and force the custard through a sieve.

Chill mixture. For really hungry people (like me!) this process can be expedited by placing the custard container into an ice bath.

Once cool, pour mixture into an ice-cream machine and churn according to manufacturer's instructions (approximately 10-15 minutes), adding a few handfuls of walnuts (as desired) to the mixture at around the five minute mark.

 

Then, as a turkey would say: "Gobble, gobble, gobble!"