On hopefully what won’t be our last Independence Day – VOTE BLUE boys and girls – we enjoyed a fantastic BBQ at Phoebe and Nancy’s with all the local family. Nancy made homemade Cherry Ice Cream that was simply outrageous.

It got the gray cells working…

We’ve had a Cuisinart ice cream maker for years. It even made the trip west, although it’s been sitting out in the shed since being unpacked back in November of 2020. (when we downsized, we really downsized!) Thursday night when we got home, I went out to the shed to get it and get the bowl into the freezer – I knew homemade ice cream was in our immediate future..  Victor suggested a banana ice cream since we had some ripening bananas on the table and a recipe was born! Friday, I made the custard, and Saturday, made the ice cream!

It truly rocked the casbah!

Creamy –  with just enough stuff in it to add extra flavor and texture. I thought of making a hot fudge sauce for it, but we had a jar of caramel in the cupboard and it won out.

A perfect treat for this ridiculous heat! I see more happening…

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 4 medium ripe bananas
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp Meyers Rum
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a medium saucepan stir together the evaporated milk, sugar, and salt and bring to simmer.

In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks until smooth.

Gradually mix some of the hot milk into the bowl with the egg yolks to temper them. Gradually add the yolks into the milk mixture, stirring constantly.

Continue cooking the egg-milk mixture until it thickens enough to coat the whisk. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream. Mix well, then strain into a blender container. Add the sliced bananas, vanilla, and rum, and blend until smooth.

Place into a container pressing plastic wrap on top to prevent skin forming. Refrigerate at least 4 hour or overnight.

If you’re using a Cuisinart mixer, freeze for 15 minutes and then slowly add the add-ins. Process for an additional 5 minutes. (Otherwise, follow your machine’s instructions.)

Transfer to a tupperware-type container and freeze an additional 3 hours or so to fully set.

Enjoy!

I used mini chips mainly to empty a bag in the cupboard. 4 ounces of chopped chocolate or regular chocolate chips would work just fine.

The rum adds flavor, but the alcohol also helps it to stay creamy and not rock solid.

And you can always switch out the evaporated milk for whole milk. We always keep it on hand because we pretty much never have whole milk in the house.

The machine has moved into the house for at least the summer months…

There’s going to be more…