Courtney, my daughter-in-law, is not much of a sweets person, but she did serve her Mom’s banana pudding at her wedding to my son Christopher last November. Because of this, I thought Banana Pudding Ice Cream would be the perfect accompaniment to the chocolate and vanilla cake I served at her baby shower. I couldn’t find a recipe, so I invented my own.

This ice cream is not too sweet, but is creamy, banana-y (is this a word?) and crunchy, from the vanilla wafers. The perfect garnish for this ice cream would be sliced bananas and a vanilla wafer, but I wouldn’t hate it with roasted pecans, hot fudge or caramel sauce either. Courtney really enjoyed this ice cream and I think it was the hit of the shower luncheon. It does require an ice cream maker, which is an investment, but I have used mine a lot and the beauty of it is you can make any ice cream of your heart’s desire.

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

• 4 ripe bananas
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 prepared small package of vanilla pudding
• 1 cup vanilla wafers, crushed into chunky crumbs

Working quickly to keep the bananas from darkening, peel and place them in a food processor with the lemon juice. Puree until smooth. You should have about 2 cups of puree. Taste the mixture. If it isn’t sweet enough (it depends on the ripeness of the bananas), add simple syrup to taste. Pour in the cream, vanilla extract and vanilla wafer crumbs.

Pour the mixture into the bowl of the ice cream maker and freeze. Take out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with banana slices and vanilla wafers.

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