Banana Walnut Chip Ice Cream

I bought an ice cream maker last summer and I love to make homemade ice cream.   I have the Cuisinart 1.5 quart maker and this recipe can be found in the recipe book that came with it.  I love it so much I had to share it here.  If you have extra bananas, try it.  It has a lot of steps but is not hard and tastes great.  The rum is a nice surprise.

Ingredients:

½ cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 whole vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
¹∕³ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large bananas, cut into 1-inch pieces
1½ tablespoons dark rum
¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (¹∕³ cup chips), roughly chopped
½ cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

Here's how:

Place the ice cream bowl in the freezer.

In a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat, bring the milk, cream, vanilla bean (including the pod), vanilla extract and the salt just to a boil. Remove from heat; let mixture steep for 30 minutes.

Steeping the vanilla bean in the cream and milk

While the milk/cream mixture is steeping, heat the sugar with water in a large skillet until it begins to sizzle.

Brown sugar and water heating up

Butter and sugar sizzling

Stir in the butter and heat until melted.

Butter added

Butter melted

Add the bananas; cook for about 2 minutes, or until fragrant and softened.

Bananas just added

Bananas after 2 minutes

Carefully stir in the rum and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

Rum added and mixture thickened

Using a slotted spoon, strain the banana/sugar mixture, reserving the sugar syrup and bananas in separate bowls.

Straining the mixture

Bananas on top and syrup on the bottom, separated

Remove the vanilla pod from the steeped milk/cream mixture; discard pod.

Remove the pod (see it on the right side of photo)

Stir the lemon juice into the bananas and then mix the bananas into the steeped milk/cream.

Bananas mixed into the milk mixture.  I put it into a pour-able container so it is easier to pour into the ice cream maker.

Cover and refrigerate mixture 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.

Turn on the Cuisinart® ice cream maker; pour the banana mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Here is my Cuisinart ice cream maker

Mixture added in and churning

While ice cream is churning, melt the bittersweet chocolate in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water or in the microwave; reserve.

Melted chocolate

When the ice cream is almost fully churned, gradually add the sugar syrup; let mix until fully combined.

Syrup added

Once the sugar syrup has been mixed, add the walnuts through the top of the ice cream maker; let mix until combined.

Walnuts added

Right before the ice cream is done, drizzle the melted chocolate into the churning ice cream.

Slowly adding the chocolate

The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.