Well, because I didn’t have the equipment, either the old hand-cranked kind or the modern electric version. I did have a vague idea there was a method that involved burying the ingredients in snow, but in June, even here in Canada, snow is a little hard to track down. So I went on an Internet quest, and found there are several ways to make ice cream without a machine. The Kitchn has links to six of them. My favorite was the one that also called for only one ingredient: bananas.
Of course, that still left me three ingredients to add. I thought about chocolate, puréed raspberries, mango, lemon — which would all be good, by the way — but settled on a simple caramel sauce I could swirl in.
This is a little firmer than commercial ice cream, but it’s just as easy to scoop and eat.
- 4 medium ripe (or slightly overripe) bananas
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- Peel the bananas and cut into coins.
- Seal in a freezer bag or plastic container and freeze two hours or longer.
- When you’re ready to use them, let them thaw slightly.
- Purée in a food processor with one teaspoon of the vanilla extract till very smooth and ice cream-like. This will take five to 10 minutes.
- Put in a medium to large covered bowl and freeze again.
- Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.
- Add the other teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Carefully stir in the brown sugar and let it melt.
- Keep stirring till the mixture is smooth and all one color.
- Pour it slowly into the bowl with the banana purée and swirl it gently in.
- Put back in the freezer till time to eat.
