Banoffee Ice Cream

Our friend Sarah was here in San Diego visiting and she brought us a jar of caramel from Paris. In a moment of inspiration, I thought it would be quite lovely with banana ice cream and some cacao nibs thrown in for a bit of crunchy interest. I decided to make a custard based ice cream instead of the gelato base this time (felt like it). It was a hit with the kids and Dennis. Zoe pointed out that it was very much like eating a Banoffe pie, and so I decided to call it banoffee ice cream. 

2 cups (455g) heavy cream 

1 cup (245g) whole milk 

2/3 cup (155g) sugar 

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

4 large egg yolks (set aside into a small bowl)

3 large (or 4 medium) very ripe bananas 

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Pre made caramel, cacao nibs, and maldon sea salt

1. Place into a medium pot the cream, milk and sugar. Stir around to mix and turn heat to medium. 

2. Once the milk base is hot, add a a spoonful or two to the egg yolks and stir quickly to mix. Add another cup of the milk base to the yolks to mix and lighten further. 

3. Add the egg yolk and milk mixture back into the pot with the rest of the milk base. 

4. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly till you see steam coming off the mixture but not boiling. Cook until thick (or relatively thick as the custard won't be too thick with only four egg yolks). 

5. Transfer the mixture into a bowl. You can put a strainer over the bowl during the transfer if the custard is  lumpy. Allow the custard to cool off a little before proceeding to the next step.

6. Put the bananas and a cup or so of the custard into a blender (say a Vitamix) and blitz. Return this to the rest of the custard and let it cool on the countertop completely and then chill in the fridge (or give the bowl of custard an ice bath treatment). 

7. When the banana custard is completely cold, churn in ice cream maker. 

8. Transfer the ice cream into a container drizzling in premade caramel (you don't need too much) between layers with sprinkling of cacao nibs. Serve with a touch of malden sea salt if desired.