Caramelised banana protein ice cream pint
15 min · 20 g protein · 262 cals / serving
Bananas foster in a pint: two bananas browned in a pan with a knob of butter, a spoon of brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon until sticky, then one caramelised banana blended into the milk and whey base and the other spun through at the end with a pinch of salt.
Ingredients
Caramelised bananas
- 1 tsp butter
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- 1 medium banana, ripe, sliced; for the base
- 1 small banana, ripe but firm, sliced; for the mix-in
Base
- 1 cup ultra-filtered milk, or skim milk
- 1 scoop whey protein, vanilla; a whey-casein blend spins creamiest
- 2 tsp sugar-free instant pudding mix, sugar-free vanilla or banana instant pudding mix
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 pinches salt, one in the base, one on the mix-in bananas
To spin
- 2 tbsp skim milk, for re-spinning or blitzing, plus a splash more if needed
Steps
- The day before: melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat, add the brown sugar and cinnamon, then all the banana slices in one layer. Cook 2 minutes a side, until golden and sticky. Let them cool, then set aside the firmer half (about 90 g), chop it and keep it covered in the fridge for the mix-in.
- Blend the other caramelised banana with the milk, whey, pudding mix, vanilla and a pinch of salt for 30 seconds, until smooth. No extra sweetener is needed; the banana does it. Let it stand 5 minutes.
- Pour the base into an ice-cream-pint container up to the max fill line, put the lid on and freeze on a level shelf for 24 hours. (No machine? Pour it into about two ice-cube trays instead and freeze at least 4 hours; see the last step.)
- Take the lid off and spin the frozen pint on the light ice cream setting. It usually comes out powdery the first time: add the 2 tbsp milk and re-spin. If it is still crumbly, add 1 more tbsp and re-spin once more, until it is smooth and creamy.
- Make a well down the middle of the spun ice cream all the way to the bottom, add the chilled chopped bananas with the second pinch of salt and run the mix-in setting once.
- Without a pint machine: let the frozen cubes stand 5–10 minutes, then blitz them in a large food processor with the 2 tbsp milk, plus a splash more if it stalls, stopping to scrape down several times, until thick and creamy, 3–5 minutes. It comes out softer and a little icier than a machine pint, like thick frozen yogurt. Fold in the mix-ins by hand. Eat it soft, or firm it in the freezer for 30–60 minutes.
Good to know
Why caramelise both bananas the day before?
The browned banana in the base is what makes the whole pint taste of caramel rather than plain banana, and the chilled pieces go straight into the well, so the spun ice cream never waits on the pan.
Can I skip the butter?
Yes: caramelise the bananas with the sugar in a dry nonstick pan, stirring more often so they do not catch. A little less rich, at about 61 instead of 57.
Can I add a crunch?
A tablespoon of chopped toasted walnuts or pecans in the well is lovely, and it turns the pint into banana-bread ice cream.
Per
- Calories
- 102
- Protein
- (31%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (18%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (51%)
- 13 g
- of which sugar
- 9 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 136 mg
More desserts
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 525 kcal goes into the pot and 523 g of ingredients comes out as about 513 g of food: 102 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.