A couple of weeks ago, I came up with this idea and thought it was so perfect that I started texting people to find out whether I was crazy or a genius…or both. My nephew Kameron got me hooked on these tasty little treats called Gone Bananas from Trader Joe’s. They’re sliced bananas, dipped in chocolate and frozen. Delish, right? I can eat a whole package and sometimes do. I love peanut butter with bananas, so how about peanut butter with frozen chocolate banana pieces? I mean, no brainer.

I used the same master ice cream base recipe that I used making the fresh mint ice cream last week and followed the instructions for peanut butter ice cream. Here’s the link again:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/01/dining/100000002976170.mobile.html?from=dining&WT.z_mob_rel=1&_r=1

After the ice cream churned, I added chopped up pieces of the Gone Bananas treats and let the ice cream ripen and harden. This is the richest, creamiest ice cream so far, but it was a little interesting to make. The peanut butter separated into tiny little globs in the custard cooking process. I ended up putting the peanut butter custard through a fine sieve before letting it cool and then refigerating it overnight. In the morning, the custard had puffed up into a fluffy, peanut buttery mixture…very different from any other recipe I’ve made. After only about 10 minutes of churning (about half the normal time), the ice cream was almost overflowing out of the bowl, so I took it out early. It was so sticky and stiff that it was even more of a challenge than usual to get it out of the bowl, off of the paddle, and into an airtight container for freezing.

I think I would reduce the peanut butter by 1/3 – 1/2 the next time, add some milk, and maybe some pureed banana to balance the flavors a bit. That’s not to say that the final result was disappointing…it’s just PEANUT BUTTER ice cream.

Jenn and I had a hilarious conversation with the Trader Joe’s clerk when we were buying peanut butter and the frozen bananas.  Let’s just say that when we mentioned what I was going to do with them, he went into full-on stoner mode. I imagine that he went home after his shift and munchied himself into a snack coma.

Here are some pictures from the cook:

mise en place

peanut butter custard

ready to churn

yummy!

Gone Bananas!

out of the freezer