Here I sit in front of my computer eating spoonful after delicious spoonful of Roasted Banana Ice Cream from Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and Lara Hata. My sister swears by this recipe book. (Guess I can’t call it a ‘cook’book, now can I? It should technically be a “freezebook”, but I digress.) She was sweet enough to let me borrow it so I could try my hand and see for myself just how magnificent this book really is.’

I finally decided on the Roasted Banana flavor because… Well, quite simply… I had all the ingredients in the house. I started the mix on Saturday, along with all my cupcake mania, and froze it Sunday night.

It’s delicious. I think this recipe book is living up to it’s reputation. Except I don’t know if I agree with the name of the recipe. If I were naming it, I’d probably call it Banana Bread Ice Cream. It tastes like an awesome piece of banana bread fresh out of the oven. Except this is a bit colder and creamier.

It has a very warm banana flavor accented by a hint of butter and kosher salt. I was a bit surprised by the use of salt, but have really enjoyed how it brings out the flavor of the roasted bananas. It’s very rich and creamy with the signature thick and sticky banana texture.

Here are the main culprits of flavor fresh out of the oven.

I have to imagine it isn’t as unhealthy as some ice creams. With such a high sugar content in bananas themselves, it doesn’t take much more sugar (just 1/3 cup brown and 2 Tbsp white). Plus, bananas have a creamy texture inherently, which means it calls for just 1 1/2 cups of whole milk (no whipping cream or half and half). But with the sweet richness of the outcome, you’d never know you didn’t have all the extra sugar and rich cream.

I think this ice cream is best served just an hour or so after coming out of the ice cream freezer. It was pretty soft at that point. A day later, it seemed a bit on the dryer side and was a tad crumbly as you can see from the photo below. I think this is partly because it’s homemade. I’ve never had a perfectly fluffy ice cream a day after. But, don’t get me wrong. It in no way detoured me from eating it a day later (she said as she gobbled down yet another scoop).

Roasted Banana Ice Cream Recipe
from the Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• 3 Medium Sized Ripe Bananas, peeled
• 1/3 Cup packed light brown sugar (i used dark brown in mine)
• 1 tablespoon butter, salted or unsalted, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 (1 and half cups) Whole Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 Teaspoon coarse salt (i used regular)

Preheat the oven to 400 Degree F (200 C)

Slice bananas into 1/2 inch pieces and toss them with brown sugar and butter in a 2 Quart baking dish. Bake for 40 Minutes, stirring just once during baking until bananas are browned and cooked through.

Scrape the bananas and thick syrup into a blender or food processor and add milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt. Puree till smooth. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator and then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

I definitely need this recipe book. You do too. In fact, it’s already landed on my Birthday wish list. I would love to try every one of the recipes in the book – including the olive oil ice cream! I’m already on my way to trying them all. I have the mix for Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream sitting in my fridge waiting for my ice cream freezer bowl to freeze so I can finish making it…