When I say overripe, I personally got a pretty great result out of ‘brown spots over about half the banana’ levels of ripeness. Note that we’re relying on some of the sugars in the banana to help the ice cream freeze soft, so I wouldn’t advise using bananas less ripe than that.
Other than that, there’s not much else to say; it’s a classic combination for a reason. Toast the walnuts if you so desire, though be sure to give them plenty of time to cool if you do so. I personally loved this ice cream with a self-saucing chocolate pudding (pudding cake for you Americans), though I admit a lot of things go well with those.
Vegan Banana and Walnut Ice Cream
Time: 30 minutes (active), 6 hours (total)
Makes: 1 Litre
Ingredients
| 650 grams | 3% Fat oat milk |
| 1 (approximately 100g) | Roughly chopped, over-ripe banana |
| To taste, maybe a couple handfuls | Walnuts, lightly toasted. |
| Powders | |
| 130 grams | Sucrose (White sugar) |
| 50 grams | Dextrose (D-glucose) |
| 10 grams | Maltodextrin |
| 5 grams | Stabiliser, such as xanthan gum |
| Fats | |
| 80 grams | Refined coconut oil |
| 20 grams | Neutral oil |
Directions
- Combine all the powders in a bowl and whisk together until they are evenly distributed. Heat the milk and the fats in a double boiler over medium / medium high heat. While the milk heats, slowly incorporate the powders, whisking constantly.
- When the milk-powder mixture hits about 80°C (175°F), remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes. Next, add in the banana and stick-blend until homogenous.
- Once cool enough, place the ice cream mixture in the fridge and leave it there until cooled to 4°C (40°F) or overnight. Sometimes I like to move the mixture to the freezer for the last half hour to get it as cool as possible and help with the churning process, but don’t leave it in the freezer so long that it starts to solidify.
- Pour the custard into your churner and leave it running until fully churned. Being ‘fully churned’ is hard to judge without experience, but your ice cream should have increased somewhat in volume and look a bit denser than soft serve. The time needed will vary dramatically depending on your churner. Mix through the walnut pieces as you transfer the churned ice cream out of your machine, layering them into the ice cream.
- You can serve your ice cream as soft serve now if you like, or you can put it in the freezer to harden to your desired level. If it’s been in the freezer for more than 12 hours or so, you might need to give the ice cream a bit of time to soften at room temperature before you serve it.