The recipe that Virginia ( author of Sweet&Sour ) brings us today is a refreshing proposal that you will love to prepare and, without a doubt, you will love to present at the table, because all your guests at home will enjoy it to the fullest. Go for this delicious banana split!

The heat has arrived, and whether we like it or not, ice creams and fresh desserts occupy our table. In this case, I propose you to make a restyling of a dessert that was very popular on restaurant menus in the 70s and 80s, the famous Banana Split.

The Banana Split or Banana Boat is a dessert dessert served on an elongated tray consisting of a banana cut in half and served with plenty of ice cream, whipped cream, dried fruit and topped with a cherry.

Fleur de Ligne porcelain tray

It was conceived at the beginning of the 20th century in the USA, some say that in 1904 in the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, others that in 1907 in Ohio, from a confectionery contest that the Erns Peligro restaurant held among its employees to attract students. from Wilmington College. To give you an idea, both cities celebrate the day of the Banana Split. Be that as it may, the popularity of this dessert is due to its marketing through the Walgreens chain.

The version that I propose today is much richer for my taste, and consists of caramelizing the banana . In this case , we will accompany it with a delicious homemade vanilla ice cream , addictive caramel sauce and of course lots of cream and cherries, which is why we are in season.

Let's go with the recipe!

INGREDIENTS (For 2 servings)

• 2 medium bananas
• 1 knob of butter
• Sugar
• Cream liquid whipping cream (35%)
• Caramel Sauce orDulce de Leche Havanna
• Nuts
• cherries

Caramel Sauce:

• 115g of butter
• 115g of brown sugar
• 140ml of cream
• 1 pinch of salt

For the vanilla ice cream (For approx 1 liter of ice cream)

• 720ml of liquid whipping cream (35%)
• 240ml whole milk
• 140g of normal sugar
• 35g of invert sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 fresh juicy vanilla bean
• 1 tablespoon Nomu vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt (1/4 tsp)

PREPARATION

We caramelize the bananas:

1. Open the bananas in half from top to bottom, with their skin and sprinkle the open half of the banana with sugar.
2. Heat a non- stick frying pan with the knob of butter and when it reaches temperature, place the bananas upside down until they have caramelized and have a crispy, golden crust. We booked.

We prepare the caramel sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat and stirring continuously, place the butter, brown sugar and cream, until everything has dissolved.
2. Slightly raise the heat and wait for a gentle boil to come. Add the pinch of salt and leave in that gentle boil for about 4-5 minutes while we continue stirring so that the preparation does not stick to us, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Kitchen Aid ice cream maker and Fleur de Ligne porcelain tray

Let's go for the ice cream:

1. With the tip of a sharp knife , cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. We booked.
2. In a saucepan with a thick bottom, put the cream, the milk, the vanilla seeds and the pod itself. We cook over medium heat until we see that it begins to boil and when this happens we remove it.
3. We cover it for about 30 minutes so that it warms up and, above all, the mixture is infused with the vanilla. After this time, add the sugars and salt and stir well.
4. Bring it back to medium heat, stirring from time to time, until we see that the sugars are dissolved. This will take us about 5 minutes. Remove from heat again and let cool. Remove the vanilla pod.
5. Beat the yolks with the help of a balloon whisk, in a rather large bowl and add the vanilla extract to enhance the flavor. While stirring continuously, gradually add the mixture of milk, cream and sugar. Beat until you get a homogeneous mixture.
6. We bring this mixture back to medium-low heat, stirring continuously until we see that the mixture thickens and has a consistency similar to a custard, but without allowing the mixture to come to a boil, otherwise the egg would break. The temperature cannot exceed 85ºC, which is the temperature at which the egg would coagulate. For more security you can use a kitchen thermometer .
7. When our mixture has thickened without boiling, let it cool to room temperature and then take it to the fridge for at least 3-4 hours, until the mixture is really cold. This mixture can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, no more.
8. When our mixture is really cold we take it to our refrigerator, if you use the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker , we will keep it at speed 1 for about 20-25 minutes.
9. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you know, in the freezer for half an hour, remove and shake to prevent the formation of crystals. Repeat the operation at least two more times, until it acquires a creamy texture.
10. Our ice cream is ready, we take it to the freezer for at least 3-4 hours so that it finishes freezing perfectly, since now we will have a semi-frozen cream that will have doubled-tripled its volume. If it was for longer, it would be necessary to take it out about 15 minutes before so that it softens slightly before serving.

We assemble the Banana Split:

Put the caramelized bananas face up, add a few quenelles of vanilla ice cream, cover with salted caramel sauce, whipped cream, nuts and crown with a cherry. We share spoons and golosonear!

Tips

• You can caramelize the banana using the kitchen torch , but for my taste it is much better roasted in the pan with a knob of butter.
• Keep in mind that when you cool the caramel sauce, it thickens quite a bit and what is practically liquid at first will later turn into a dense, creamy, smooth and silky sauce. That is why it is better to keep it rather short, which we can then solve, returning the preparation to the fire for a few minutes, than going over time and density, and leaving us with a paste, with a very difficult solution, if what we are looking for is a sauce.
• If you have leftover caramel sauce and want to keep it, pour it into a well-sterilized glass jar and leave it to cool without the lid on. We close when it's cold. It keeps very well in the fridge for about 10 days, if it lasts that long.
• For the banana split, you can use the ice cream that you most want, to me the vanilla with the caramel sauce seems brutal, even combining several flavors of ice cream.

To enjoy.

Virginia