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 in a big way. 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 do 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 served on an elongated tray consisting of a banana split in half and served with plenty of ice cream, whipped cream, nuts and topped by a cherry.

Fleur de Ligne porcelain tray

It was devised 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 pastry 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. 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
• Liquid whipping cream (35%)
• Caramel Sauce or Dulce de Leche Havanna
• Nuts
• cherries

Caramel Sauce:

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

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

• 720ml of liquid whipping cream (35%)
• 240ml of whole milk
• 140g of normal sugar
• 35g of inverted 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 the butter in a non-stick frying pan and when it warms up, place the bananas face down until they have caramelized and have a crispy, golden crust. We booked.

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. We slightly raise the heat and wait for it to come to a gentle boil. Add the pinch of salt and leave it to simmer 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 refrigerator 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 we put the cream, the milk, the vanilla seeds and the pod itself. 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. Return to medium heat, stirring from time to time, until we see that the sugars are dissolved. This will take about 5 minutes. Remove from heat again and let cool. We remove the vanilla pod.
5. We 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 we continuously stir it, we gradually add the mixture of milk, cream and sugar. We beat until we get a homogeneous mix.
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 cut. 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, we let it cool to room temperature and then put it in 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 fridge, if you use the Kitchen Aid fridge , we will keep it at speed 1 for about 20-25 minutes.
9. If you don't have a fridge, you know, 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 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-triplicated its volume. If it were for a longer time, it would be necessary to take it out about 15 minutes before so that it softens slightly before serving.

We assemble the Banana Split:

Turn 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 distribute spoons and treat ourselves!

Tips

• You can caramelize the banana using the kitchen torch , but for my taste it is much tastier roasted in the pan with a knob of butter.
• Keep in mind that when the caramel sauce is cooled, it thickens quite a bit and what at first is practically liquid, will later become a dense, creamy, smooth and silky sauce. That is why it is better to stay rather short, since we can solve it later, returning the preparation to the heat for a few minutes, than spending time and density, and leaving a paste, with a very difficult solution, if what we are looking for is a dip.
• 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. We close when it's cool. It keeps very well in the fridge for about 10 days, if it gets that long.
• For the banana split, you can use the ice cream that you like the most, the vanilla with the caramel sauce seems brutal to me, even combining several flavors of ice cream.

To enjoy.

Virginia