Spants

I’m sure you’re all shocked – SHOCKED – that I like eating ice cream year-round.  But since I got my ice cream maker last year, I’ve only made ice cream in warm weather.

Until now.  But let me explain.

A few months ago, SluttyPants and I went to Ben & Jerry’s.  One of our favorite flavors – Bananas on the Rum – wasn’t in stock, and apparently would not be stocked again at this location.  I had kind of outgrown that flavor, but SluttyPants was really bummed.  She had just started liking it.

In October, when I started brainstorming Christmas presents, I knew exactly what I was giving her: homemade Bananas on the Rum.

It took awhile to find a good recipe.  I finally found one on Epicurious.com for Banana Rum ice cream.  I made it as directed for a trial run.  My mom loved it.  Josh liked it.  I thought it was WAY too banana-y.  And the texture was too icy, I’m guessing because of moisture from the bananas.

So, I modified the recipe for the final version to include the brown sugar swirl, and to embrace an ice cream technique I just learned about.  I’m going to share my recipe with you.  Warning: this recipe is rather labor intensive, even for ice cream.

“Bananas on the Rum” Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 cups milk
• 3 Tbsp cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 large egg
• 4 tablespoons dark or spiced rum (I used Captain Morgan)
• 1 tsp rum extract (or vanilla if you want a subdued rum flavor)
• 1 c well-chilled heavy cream
• 1 lb bananas
• 2 tsp light corn syrup
• ice water bath in a large bowl or tub

Preparation

1. In a small bowl, mix 2 Tbsp of milk with cornstarch.  Whisk until smooth.  Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk sugar, egg yolk, and whole egg.  Whisk until smooth.
4. Scald milk in a heavy saucepan.
5. Slowly and steadily add scalded milk to egg/sugar mixture, whisking until mixed.
6. Pour mixture back into saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking constantly, for 1 minute.
7. Add rum and cornstarch/milk mixture.  Boil, whisking, for 1 minute.
8. Slowly add mixture to bowl with cream cheese.  Whisk until smooth.
9. Strain mixture through a fine sieve and into a bowl inside a larger bowl of ice and cold water.  Chill custard until it is cold.  Stir custard every 10 minutes, or so.  (I put the custard bowl into a huge mixing bowl with ice water, and then put the whole thing into the fridge.  But be careful!  You don’t want your custard bowl to tip and let water seep into it.  That would be the death of the ice cream.  If time isn’t an issue, you can just refrigerate the bowl.)
10. Once custard is cold, stir in vanilla and heavy cream.  Set aside, or leave in fridge.
11. Using a food processor or blender, puree bananas and corn syrup.  Once smooth, pour puree through a fine sieve and into bowl of custard.  Stir until incorporated and chill until cold.
12. Freeze mixture in ice cream maker, following manufacturer instructions.
13. Pack the ice cream into a plastic container.
14. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Freeze ice cream until firm, about 4 hours.

Brown Sugar Rum Sauce (modified from an America’s Test Kitchen recipe)

Ingredients

• 1/2 c packed dark brown sugar
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 1 tsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp rum extract

Preparation

1. Cook brown sugar and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the mixture bubbles and becomes lighter in color, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.
2. Slowly whisk in cream until sauce is smooth.  Stir in corn syrup and rum extract.  Serve warm, or cool to room temperature.  (This sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  Just reheat in a small saucepan over low heat, or microwave in short bursts, stirring often, until warm and smooth, 1 to 3 minutes.)

To construct “Bananas on the Rum” ice cream:

• Before packing ice cream into an airtight plastic container, spoon a layer of sauce into bottom of container, using a zig zag pattern.  It’s okay if it’s uneven.
• Put a layer of ice cream atop the sauce.  Repeat sauce.  Repeat ice cream layer.  Etc.  Finish off with another drizzle of sauce.  Then, when you scoop the ice cream, you should get a nice swirl of sauce with every scoop.
• Press a sheet of plastic wrap (I use Glad Press ‘n Seal Freezer) directly onto surface of ice cream and sauce and close with an airtight lid.  Freeze until firm, about 4 hours.

Tip:

• When you take ice cream out of freezer, remove lid and plastic wrap immediately.  If you wait, the plastic wrap will pull away a lot of sauce.

So, that’s my recipe.  If you don’t have an ice cream machine, you can still make ice cream.  It just takes even more work, and I would recommend halving the recipe to make it easier to stir.

Oh, and sorry no pictures.  I didn’t think of it.  BUT, I did make vanilla bean ice cream today, and I took pictures.  I’ll post it tomorrow.