Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Making ice cream with Tyler and Abbey is one of my favorite things to do: there is nothing better than ice cream made from scratch, or seeing my kids faces light up when I let them eat it right out of the machine.

One of our most favorite recipes is Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream*. This ice cream recipe is a great way to use up bananas that are starting to go south, but it’s better if you can catch them before they turn too brown. A few brown spots are okay, but too many will result in brown ice cream instead of a creamy yellow!

I started making this ice cream when my husband and I were newlyweds; we've been happily married for over seven years now, so I guess I’ll keep making it! I hope you find this Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream as tasty as we do over here!

INGREDIENTS:

* 2/3 cup sugar

* 2 large eggs

* 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour

* 1/8 teaspoon salt

* 1 ¼ cups milk

* 2 large, very ripe bananas

* 1 cup light cream

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 2 tablespoons banana liqueur (optional) **

**I have never used the liqueur when making this recipe; as long as your bananas are sweet, I do not feel you need it.

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the flour and salt. Set aside.

Step 2: Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. Slowly beat the hot milk into the eggs and sugar. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl.

Step 3: Mash the bananas with a potato masher until they are creamy, or puree them in a food processor. Add the banana puree to the hot custard and mix well. Allow the banana custard to cool slightly. Stir in the cream, vanilla.

Step 4: Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight. (My kids have never let me chill anything overnight, so I speed up the cooling process with an ice bath. Just make sure your mixture is completely chilled before adding to the ice cream machine.)

Step 5: Stir the chilled custard, and then freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Step 6: When the ice cream is semi-frozen, add ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the machine and let the machine mix the chocolate.

Step 7: When finished, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.