Roasted banana ice cream

Bananas spot easily. Their brown spots grow at an alarming exponential rate. Way faster than how a normal spot grows on the human face. I'm glad I'm not a banana.

To use up some spotty bananas, I decided that I was not going to go my usual route of making this uber scrumptious banana bread, but to go for something with a chill - ice cream, instead.

What do you get when you combine bananas, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon?

A damn sexy looking tray, that's what you'll get.

Picking up my well-thumbed copy (but still clean cos I'm a stickler for keeping my books clean!) of David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop", I saw the recipe for roasted banana ice cream. Woah. Bananas, brown sugar, milk, no eggs nor cream? I'm sold.

Roasted banana ice cream with rum raisins

The texture was spot on creamy, even without the use of a custard base, and the addition of a little rum made it not too hard to scoop. The rum raisins were super plump and moist after freezing cos I soaked them for quite a long while that they were super rehydrated. I think I was a little too heavy handed with the rum that it was just a little icy (alcohol tempers the freezing process) as minute ice crystals formed. I like how that you can't really tell that it's banana flavoured, but one gripe - way too much sugar!!!

If I were to redo the recipe again, I'll definitely reduce the sugar content cos it was just too sweet for my liking.  And my oven actually over caramelised the bananas till a spot too dark that's why my ice cream colour is almost a dark caramel shade of colour. I think for me (or rather, my oven), the recommended timing of 40 minutes was too long. I recommend cutting the time to 30-35 minutes, or depending on every oven's temperament , till the bananas are just nicely caramelised.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream with Rum Raisins (adapted from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop")

3 medium-sized ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 packed cup brown sugar (I recommend reducing as the ice cream was really sweet...)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole mik
2 tbsp granulated sugar (...or just omit the sugar here instead)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup raisins soaked in 2 tbsp rum (soaked for at least 24 hours)

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Slice the bananas into pieces and toss them with the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter in a lined baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the bananas are browned and cooked through, flipping the slices just once during baking.
Scrape the bananas and syrup in the dish into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt, and puree until smooth.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add in the rum soaked raisins and some of the rum syrup during the last five minutes of churning.