Ice cream: His & Hers, Vanilla & Roasted Banana Ice Cream

The sleek Vanilla Ice cream with Crushed Pistachio Nuts snuggling with the sexy Roasted Banana Ice Cream topped with flambéed golden and red raisins.

So I have been craving, wanting, needing, coveting an ice cream maker forever but knowing my trials and tribulations over losing pregnancy weight I should have stopped myself; but reading about ice cream over and over and over and over and over and over. I couldn't help it. I did it. I did what she did. I got myself a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker from Williams & Sonoma. They had a special, I justified to myself. Two freezer bowls plus Ice Cream maker for $59.95! What a deal. Of course, I found The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz hanging around the book section, I flipped through it and the Fig Ice Cream caught my eye, then the tin-roof, then the mango sorbet and the rest is history, book plopped into my hands for eternity. As I was trying to heave my rather cumbersome box of an icecream maker to the register, the nice sales lady took it off my hands and I had one hand free to pick up these cute Ice cream sandwich makers! People, I promise you I have only started to bake heavily this past year, first time in my life making ice cream and now ice cream sandwiches! I have truly gone past mad but it all seemed to make sense to me at that time. I envisioned little play dates for A & N coming over and I saw myself treating the little tots to piggy, cow and star shaped ice cream 'wiches. So I promise you, soon on my blog I will share the results of that!

My shopping experience at Williams & Sonoma - Cuisinart Ice Cream and Yogurt Maker, The Perfect Scoop Book and Set of Three Ice Cream Sandwich Cutters.

The Cuisinart ice cream maker I purchased has two freezer bowls and in order to make ice cream in my machine, the instructions told me to gently wash these bowls and put it in the freezer for at least 22 hours prior to use. So my urge to whip out ice-cream in 25-30 minutes day of purchase squashed, I spent an hour poring through The Perfect Scoop trying to decide which recipe to try. So many to choose from. This is where the HIS & HERS issue comes in. My husband and I both could eat ice cream like there is no tomorrow but our choice of flavors varies so vastly. Our typical trip to Haagen Daaz or Ben & Jerrys might look like this:
Me: Hmm.. I think I will try the Mango Sorbet or the Cherry Garcia or the Rum Raisin or the Coconut swirled with Raspberry.
Him: uh.. I think I want the Mint Chocolate Chip or Vanilla or Coffee or Strawberry

Our taste in ice cream could be a metaphor for our personalities. I like fruity, tropical, liqueur infused, complex flavors. He likes simple, traditional, well-known items. Now it might like an over simplification to break us down into these few adjectives but it did seem interesting to me that after I read the recipe for the Roasted Banana Ice cream I realized that HE would not care for it. I just knew that the caramelization of the bananas in butter and brown sugar would be too intense and rich for his taste. But, I rationalized to myself, this was my treat so I get to pick the first flavor to be tried in the Ice cream machine. So I did, I had three really ripe bananas hanging around along with plenty of whole milk and I present to you:

Roasted Banana Ice Cream with flambéed raisins and couple of pistachio nuts

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)

Method
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 (I used my hand blender) 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 per instructions.

Flambéed Raisins (my own creation)

• 1/2 Cup Mixed Raisins (Golden, Red)
• 3 Tablespoons Dark Rum
• 1 Pat Butter
• 1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar

Method:
Marinate raisins in 1 tablespoon Rum for minimum 1/2 hour. Heat butter in a small pan on medium heat, add sugar and raisins and heat raisins till plump and bubbly. Slowly pour 2 tablespoons of rum into the raisins and carefully light the mixture. Let the flames evaporate and turn off heat.

Results:
My ice cream machine instructions told me that it would be ready in 25 to 30 minutes and in that time frame the ice cream was thick and creamy with a soft serve type consistency. I ate a couple of "taste" spoons but decided to freeze in the freezer to get it to be a firmer texture. The ice cream was so delicious and just as I predicted, rich and creamy and pretty intense. I decided to pair this ice cream with some rum raisins and the raisins just heightened the taste of the butterscotch flavored bananas. A must try for banana fans. I also added some nuts but didn't care for the pistachio flavors with the banana and would suggest skipping that instead.

My next project for today was to create a special ice cream for my beloved as he did not enjoy the banana ice cream as much as I did. So I reached into David's Perfect Scoop again and found a simple Vanilla ice cream recipe to try. He mentions that there are two styles of making ice creams. One is called French Style or otherwise known as cooked custard style made with egg yolks and the other slightly less complicated style called Philadelphia made with cream or cream and milk. Since I am a newbie to making ice creams, I thought it would behoove me to stick to simple recipes on my first go and so I decided to start off with it.

Here is a single strand of Tahitian Vanilla Bean ready for splitting and cooking.

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe (from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

• 3 Cups Heavy Cream or 2 Cups Heavy Cream plus 1 Cup Whole Milk (I went with cream and milk route)
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 Vanilla Bean, split in half length wise
• 3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

Method
Pour 1 cup of cream into saucepan and add sugar, salt. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into saucepan and add pod to the pot. Warm over medium heat, stirring till sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and add remaining cups of cream and milk and vanilla extract. Chill mixture thoroughly and when ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing it for another use and freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to instructions.

Rich, Creamy, Scrumptious and Stunning Vanilla Ice Cream

Results? Again, after about 30 minutes I got this beautiful creamy, ice cold soft serve vanilla ice cream. The taste was superb and the vanilla flavor so perfect. Although I have a preference for more intense ice creams, I couldn't help but understand my husband's preference for the elegant, understated and flavorful choice. It was one of the best vanilla ice creams I have tasted.

Later after both flavors firmed up a bit, I offered up the vanilla with chopped pistachio nuts and banana ice cream with the rum raisins to a visiting friend and relatives, both got resounding approvals. I am so thrilled with my purchases. Now, I have to hit the gym a little harder. :)

Next on the ice cream menu? Mango Sorbet for me, Chocolate Mint for him.