Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!

In order to beat this excessive heat wave that's been hitting my part of Canada (it's 40C (104F) with the humidity and it's only 10am!!) my kids and I wanted to find a refreshing treat to make. So off we went to find a recipe for my new ice cream maker. Yes, I have finally jumped on the homemade ice cream bandwagon!! Last week I was lucky enough to find a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker at a local liquidator (for a substantial discount too!).

Soon after buying this machine (I'm talking later that same day) I had my first foray into ice cream making -- Oreo Cookie Ice Cream! In all of my excitement to make this ice cream I didn't take into account that my kitchen had a temperature of 27C and that the ice cream maker bowl wasn't frozen enough (takes 6-22 hours in the freezer and we did the minimum). Can you tell we were a bit excited??? Those two temperature issues caused the ice cream to be more like slush cream so we popped it in the freezer for a couple of hours. With that little change it was delightful!!

One of the main reasons that I bought an ice cream maker was so that my 11 year old could finally eat ice cream with loads of goodies in it. I'm talking about cookie dough, brownies etc. With his peanut allergy going to "31 Flavours" or Marble Slab Creamery-type places is a definite no-no. The risk is much too high for cross-contamination with other nut products. This is where a home ice cream maker comes in very handy!!

There are several options out there for these machines but the only two I really looked at were the Cuisinart and the Kitchen Aid attachment. Since I found the Cuisinart version first that's the one I got and I love it!

Yesterday, I decided to delve into the banana graveyard which is my fridge freezer and use up some of my stash. In my world using fruit helps to negate the guilty feelings of eating ice cream at 11 in the morning!! I found a recipe online and, of course, tweaked it to within an inch of its life. The recipe called for using room temperature bananas. My first thought was why use room temperature bananas when A) I have tonnes in my freezer and B) I want to make something COLD!

My second thought was of the delicious adult-only bevvie that Brad has made me in the past ... the very yummy Chocolate Monkey! He uses a frozen banana in this delicious drink so I opted for that too. Doing this helped keep the temperature of the ice cream mixture nice and cold. I also had our A/C on this time so my kitchen wasn't stuffy and hot and I added some chopped up chocolate chips (chocolate makes everything better, right?).

I think all the changes I made to this recipe worked out really well. The results? Really creamy, natural banana flavour with a hint of chocolate. If you don't want the crunchiness of the chocolate chips you could opt for Oreo cookie crumbs instead. And the best part of making homemade ice cream is that it only takes about half an hour. That's good news for my very impatient stomach ... fairly bad news for my thighs and posterior. :s

I hope everyone is keeping cool in this weather!!

Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ice Cream Maker Time: Approximately 25-30 minutes
Makes: 1 1/2 quarts

Servings: Ten 1/2 cup servings

3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 - 4 ripe medium bananas, semi-frozen
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips, chopped

Let bananas thaw on the counter for 10 minutes. Remove skins and place in blender. The bananas should still be pretty frozen. The slight thaw just helps to get the skins off. Blend well until smooth. Add milk, sugar and nutmeg and blend.

Pour banana mixture into a large bowl. Add heavy cream and vanilla and mix. Pour immediately into thoroughly frozen bowl of ice cream maker. Mix in ice cream maker for 25 minutes. Add chopped chocolate chips. Mix for another 5 minutes or until ice cream is thick. Serve immediately.

If using room temperature bananas
Mix milk, sugar, and nutmeg until sugar dissolves (a wire whisk or hand mixer works well).

Mash or puree bananas until the bananas are pureed well. Stir bananas into milk mixture.

For best freezing results, chill banana/milk mixture for at least 1 hour.
Add whipping cream and vanilla. Stir well. Pour mixture into ice cream maker.
Churn about 25-30 minutes or according to manufacturer's instructions.

NOTE: I take the bowl for my ice cream maker out of my deep freeze right before I need it. The colder you keep the bowl the better. I also keep my bowl in my deep freeze (inside a plastic bag as per the instructions) so it's always ready to go in case I have an ice cream emergency!

Inspired by: Banana Ice Cream (http://www.serving-ice-cream.com)