Banana Malt Ice Cream

Hi! How are you? Long time no see. Unfortunately when you're a poor struggling college student/mother of one, you tend not to have spare change lying around...definitly not enough spare change lying around for a new camera anyways. Sadly (*tear*) my poor camera broke months and months ago when my 2 year old daughter smashed the protracted lens on my wooden floor. Ever since then I've been at the mercy of friends and family members who've been willing to let me use their cameras for a short time. Lately, I've been just out of luck on that front and so haven't been much able to take pictures of any of my creations. Now that I've gotten that off my chest...

Banana malt ice cream. It sounds a little off, a little strange, weird. But it is AMAZING. It incorporates the flavors of roasted bananas, malted milk powder, maple syrup, and tangy buttermilk perfectly. The malted milk powder really mellows out the banana flavor or intensifies it depending on your perspective. But either way it lends a deep and layered flavor to this ice cream. The maple syrup is just an afterhint that really meshes well with the other flavors and the tangy buttermilk is a nice counterbalance to the richness. It also is really easy to make since you don't have to cook anything on the stove to make a custard. Just roast the bananas and blend everything together. I think you will find this ice cream delicious just like I did!

P.S. If you're trying to lose weight, like I am, this is a really nice ice cream to make. It is actually healthy and low calorie for ice cream. There's no heavy cream or egg yolks. Instead the creaminess comes from half and half, buttermilk, and (obviously healthy) bananas. :)

P.S.S. This ice cream would be super delicious with chocolate malt powder and crushed malted milk balls mixed in...just saying...

Banana Malt Ice Cream

3 large or 4 small bananas (unpeeled!)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup malted milk powder
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbl maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lay the bananas (skin on) out on a baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes. The bananas will turn black and go from this:

to this:

Let the bananas cool. Remove the peel and food process/blend the bananas along with any juices that were in the pan. Slowly add the buttermilk and half and half to the food processor/blender until the mixture is completely smooth and free of lumps. Measure and add in the rest of the ingredients before pulsing/blending until combined and even.

Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.

Recipe adapted from this website.