Caramelized Banana Banana Split

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 cream and fresh desserts are taking over our tables. In this case, I propose to do a restyling of a dessert that was very fashionable on the menus of restaurants in the 70s and 80s, the famous Banana Split.

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

Fleur de Ligne Porcelain Tray

It was invented in the early 20th century in the USA, some say in 1904 in the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, others in 1907 in Ohio, after a baking contest that the Erns Peligro restaurant held among its employees to attract students from Wilmington College. To give you an idea, both cities celebrate Banana Split Day. Whatever the case, the popularity of this dessert is due to its marketing through the Walgreens chain.

The version I propose today is, in my opinion, much richer, 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 what we are in season for.

Let's go with the recipe!

INGREDIENTS (For 2 servings)

• 2 medium bananas
• 1 knob of butter
• Sugar
• Whipping cream (35%)
• Caramel Sauce or Havana Dulce de Leche
• Nuts
• Cherries

Caramel Sauce:

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

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

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

PREPARATION

We caramelize the bananas:

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

We prepare the caramel sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir continuously, place the butter, brown sugar and cream until everything has dissolved.
2. We slightly increase the heat and wait for it to reach a gentle boil. We add a pinch of salt and let it simmer for about 4-5 minutes, while continuing to stir so that the preparation does not stick, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Kitchen Aid refrigerator and Fleur de Ligne porcelain tray

Let's go for the ice cream:

1. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan with a thick bottom, add the cream, milk, vanilla seeds and the vanilla pod itself. Cook over medium heat until it begins to boil, and when it does, remove it from the heat.
3. We cover it for about 30 minutes so that it cools down and, above all, the mixture infuses with the vanilla. After this time, we add the sugars and salt and stir well.
4. Return to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugars have dissolved. This will take about 5 minutes. Remove from heat again and allow to cool. Remove the vanilla pod.
5. Beat the egg yolks with a whisk in a large bowl and add the vanilla extract to enhance the flavour. While stirring continuously, gradually add the milk, cream and sugar mixture. 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 boil, otherwise the egg will curdle. The temperature cannot exceed 85ºC, which is the temperature at which the egg would coagulate. For more safety you can use a kitchen thermometer .
7. Once our mixture has thickened without boiling, we let it cool to room temperature and then put it in the refrigerator 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 put it in our ice cream maker. 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 can put it in the freezer for half an hour, take it out and beat it to prevent the formation of crystals. Repeat the operation at least two more times, until it acquires a creamy texture.
10. Once our ice cream is ready, we put it in 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 or tripled in volume. If it has been there for longer, it would be necessary to take it out about 15 minutes earlier so that it softens slightly before serving.

We assemble the Banana Split:

We place the caramelized bananas face up, add a few quenelles of vanilla ice cream, cover with salted caramel sauce, whipped cream, nuts and top with a cherry. We pass out spoonfuls and enjoy!

Tips

• You can caramelize the banana using a kitchen blowtorch , but for my taste it is much tastier roasted in a pan with a knob of butter.
• Bear in mind that when the caramel sauce cools it thickens quite a bit and what is at first practically liquid will later become a thick, creamy, smooth and silky sauce. That is why it is better to go rather short, which we can later solve by returning the preparation to the heat for a few minutes, than to go overboard and thicken it, and end up with a paste, which is very difficult to solve 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 let it cool without the lid on. Close it when it has cooled. It keeps very well in the refrigerator for about 10 days, if it lasts that long.
• For the banana split, you can use whatever ice cream you like best. I think vanilla with caramel sauce is amazing, and you can even combine several ice cream flavors.

Enjoy.

Virginia