Cranberry Banana Ice Cream
When the bags of cranberries were flooding the local grocery stores last fall, they all said the same thing:
Buy Two! Use one, freeze one.
That, said I, is a good idea. So…while it’s the middle of July, since we’re eating down our deep freezer, we now have lots of cranberry desserts popping up.
One of my favorites is Stephanie’s Cranberry Apple Walnut Cake. But, it’s summer time…it’s ice cream time. And, since I found that ice cream maker for $3.50 (Can we tell that I’m still extremely stoked about this?), we’ve been making (and creating) lots of ice cream.
I went to look for a Cranberry Ice Cream recipe and didn’t like any of the ones I saw. 4 cups of sugar?!? 2 cups of sugar? Uh…no.
So…doing what I like to do, I made up my own.
Naturally pink, Naturally sweet
Ingredients
3 c. cranberries, fresh or frozen
2 very ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 can coconut milk
1/2 c. real maple syrup
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Put cranberries, bananas, and coconut milk in the food processor. Puree until smooth. Add everything else. Pulse to blend. Pour into ice cream maker canister and follow the machine’s directions.
Thoughts for the next go ’round:
Nathan and I both thought the banana taste was a little too strong, so I’ll probably back down to 1 1/2 bananas.
I’m also wondering about trying to puree the cranberries separately and strain out some of the seeds. It wasn’t bad, it just seems like that might help make it a little smoother.
All in all, though, we liked it. I think I will definitely be making this again, if only to tinker with the recipe. After all, there are three more bags of cranberries in the deep freezer, begging to be given a purpose… 😉
What’s your favorite ice cream?
Jessica's Jottings: 
That sounds really yummy! I like making homemade cranberry sauce and eating it when it’s still hot. My brother likes ice cream and hot waffles. Now, putting all three together sounds really good.