Guys, I interrupt my Hummingbird Black Bottom cupcake making with some very important news:
HOMEMADE ICE CREAM!
Okay, that’s not really news, but this is, I bought the ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid mixer!
I know, I know, you guys were probably on the edge of your seat waiting for me to finish my rambling and post up the final, high-altitude adapted recipe for the Hummingbird Bakery’s Black Bottom cupcakes. I have admittedly been behind on my posting, but no fear! I promise I’ll have the completed recipe to you guys soon.
In the meantime, I hope this recipe for HOMEMADE BANANA ICE CREAM WITH CARAMELIZED WHITE CHOCOLATE FRECKLES will tide you over:
Sounds epic, right? Unfortunately, I didn’t come up with the recipe myself. It’s from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. Jeni’s Ice Cream is a specialty ice cream shop that started out in Columbus, Ohio, of all places. I believe Jeni’s actually predates San Francisco’s famous Humphrey Slocombe and (maybe even) BiRite Creamery (both of whom came out with cookbooks recently).
I found out about the store through Pinterest — some pinner had posted up a tasty-looking spoonful of magnolia ice cream with honeyed mochi pieces. The pin led me to Jeni’s site, and after extensively browsing through her unique, exciting, and adventurous flavors (Cherry Lambic Sorbet? Whiskey and Pecans? Wildberry Lavender?), I was sold. The cookbook promised even more exciting flavors — roasted strawberry and buttermilk, chamomile chardonnay, brown butter with honey hickory pralines, and so on.
I decided to start with Jeni’s recipe for Banana Ice Cream with Caramelized White Chocolate Freckles simply because I had a ton of frozen black bananas sitting in my freezer taking up space. It was my first time making ice cream, and, I must admit, it was a bit more challenging than I had initially anticipated. You can read all about my ice cream making foibles here. But for right now, I’ll quit talking and give you the recipe that you’ve undoubtedly been waiting for:
Get the Recipe: Banana Ice Cream with Caramelized White Chocolate Freckles
Ingredients
For the Banana Ice Cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out (seeds and bean reserved)
- 2 ripe bananas
For the Caramelized White Chocolate Freckles
- 12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
- 1/3 cup refined coconut oil
Equipment
- 1 large bowl (enough to hold a full gallon-sized Ziploc freezer bag) filled with ice
- 1 4-quart, thick-bottomed saucepan
- 1 gallon-sized Ziploc freezer bag
- 1 ice cream machine/maker
Instructions
Caramelized White Chocolate Freckles
- Combine 12 ounces of chopped white chocolate and 1/3 cup refined coconut oil in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until melted and smooth.
- Continue to cook, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes a lovely, deep, amber. This should take around 12-15 minutes. Remember to stir constantly, or the chocolate will burn as the color deepens.
Remove from heat once the chocolate has caramelized to your liking. Also do not be afraid to remove the chocolate from heat if seems to be caramelizing too rapidly. Let cool, then set aside.
Banana Ice Cream
Prep
- Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk (from the 2 cups of whole milk) with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Set aside.
- Whisk 1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) of cream cheese with 1/8 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Set aside.
- Fill a large bowl with ice and cold water. Set aside.
Cook
- Combine the remaining milk, 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, and vanilla seeds and bean in a 4-quart saucepan.
- Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for exactly 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
- Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat ad cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened (about 1 minute). Remove from heat.
Chill
- Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.
- Cut the bananas into chunks and puree in a food processor. Blend the bananas into the hot cream mixture.
- Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold (about 30 minutes).
Freeze
- Remove the vanilla bean from the Ziploc bag.
- Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and spin until thick and creamy (that is, follow your ice cream maker manufacturer’s instructions).
- When the ice cream is ready, prepare your white chocolate freckles. If the chocolate has hardened, place it in a larger pot containing warm water, and reheat until warm, liquefied, and smooth.
- When the ice cream is ready, drizzle about half of the warm white chocolate into the ice cream and continue spinning until it is completely incorporated. You will only use half of the white chocolate mixture for the freckles. To store, let cool, then pour into a glass jar and keep covered in the refrigerator. The chocolate will keep for up to 1 month.
- Pack the ice cream into a storage container and press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, sealing with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm (at least four hours, if not overnight).
Notes
For All Altitudes Â
