Bananas Foster Ice Cream Recipe

As you may already know, Bananas Foster is one of my most favorite desserts. In fact, I pretty much love banana…anything! So, as soon as I had the opportunity to try out my brand new Ace Nova Blender, one of the first things I wanted to make was a Bananas Foster Ice Cream Recipe. Just a few bites of this sweet, rich and oh so creamy ice cream can easily satisfy a craving. BUT…if you’re anything like me it can be hard to put it back in the freezer.

As always, I like to give credit where credit is due. So let’s talk a little about the origin of Bananas foster itself.

Where did Bananas Foster Originate

In the United States, bananas were hard to come by until the 1870’s. By the beginning of the 1900’s the Banana Trade was a multi-million dollar industry due to improvements in shipping.

Bananas were being shipped from Cuba and Honduras into New Orleans. At the time, New Orleans housed some of the biggest fruit companies in the United States.

As you can imagine, the restaurants in New Orleans had a large amount of bananas readily available.

Now, like many dishes, the stories of origin differ from source to source.

So, what we do know is Owen Brennan originally started out with his restaurant called Brennan’s Vieux Carré in 1946. Ten years later he moved the restaurant to its existing location and the name became “Brennan’s“. The Dessert was made and named Bananas Foster in honor of Richard Foster who was the New Orleans Crime Commission Chairman at the time.

Now, I’m not sure whether this story takes place at Owen’s first or second location, or who exactly created the amazing Bananas Foster Dessert.

The first story is as follows…

One day, Owen Brennan asked his sister Ella, who managed the restaurant, to create a dessert recipe to be served that evening.

Rushing to the kitchen and working with what was available, Ella created Bananas Foster.

Now, that’s a great story and honestly I hope its the true version. However, if you look at the Brennan’s website they specifically state that Owen challenged Chef Paul Blangé to create the dessert in honor of Richard Foster.

While I hope it was Ella who actually created it…I give major thanks to all involved in the Origin of Bananas Foster.

Bananas Foster without Rum

Just like Bananas Foster Banana Pudding (my most popular recipe to date) I don’t use Rum for this Bananas Foster Ice Cream recipe. You can certainly make bananas foster without rum. However, this is not a non alcoholic recipe as I still use a banana liqueur.

Many Bananas Foster recipes use both banana liqueur and rum, as does the original.

If I were making Bananas Foster as a stand alone dessert I’d use dark rum and flambé the bananas.

Since I’m making a bananas foster ice cream recipe I really just need the overall flavor profile. I think the rum and flambé is unnecessary at that point.

Bananas Foster Ice Cream

For this Bananas Foster Ice Cream recipe I’m using a few simple ingredients and only two major kitchen appliances.

If you follow my recipes, it’ll come as no surprise that I use a cast Iron skillet to make the Bananas Foster. But the real magic happens with The Ace Nova Blender by Instant Brands. I’ve written a full review so I’m not gonna go on and on.

This Bananas Foster Blender Ice Cream recipe makes an incredibly creamy, smooth, rich and sweet dessert. The flavors and texture will remind of something that would served in small portions at a fine dining establishment. But you can make it by the gallon if your heart so desires.

First, start by melting a the butter on low heat in a large cast iron skillet. Once the butter has melted and begun bubbling, increase the heat to medium-high and add the brown sugar, vanilla extract, banana liqueur, and cinnamon.

Stir the mixture together and allow it to thicken a bit. Next, add the sliced bananas and stir making sure that they are fully covered by the sugar and liqueur mixture. Cook until the bananas begin to brown and wilt.

Once your Bananas Foster is done it’s time to make the ice cream.

This is super easy part!

Using an Instant brand blender, place the glass pitcher on its base and pour in the milk. Next add the cream cheese, pudding mix, sugar, and bananas foster.

Secure the lid until you hear a beep, press the frozen dessert button, and let the blender do its work.

Once the blender is complete pour the mix into deli style storage containers and allow the mixture to freeze for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

When serving, you might want to set your bananas foster ice cream in the fridge to soften for about 30 minutes.

In Conclusion

We may still not know for sure who created Bananas Foster, Ella or Chef Blangé. But one thing I think we can all agree upon is that we’re glad it was created. While its traditionally served hot with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, why not just mix it right in and freeze it. Thats what we’ve done here and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Let me know in the comments if you tried this out, any changes you made, and how you and your family or friends enjoyed it.

Thank you for reading and as usual…

Happy Cooking!

-Jeremy