BBQ Grill-Friendly Bananas Foster Dupe with Cinnamon Ice Cream

Yes, you read that right! This is a bananas foster dupe that yields a totally gorgeous and delicious result! This is for all you girls that love bananas foster but are terrified you might singe your eyebrows off trying to make it at home! (Side bar: Especially if you were the child who was trying to imitate your much cooler, older sister who got her eyebrows waxed, and in your 8 year old state of mind, decided it would be a great to go ahead and throw a nice strip of Scotch tape over your eyebrow to replicate the process. Leaving a bald spot on your brow that would take many years of brow therapy (brow waxing and shaping appointments) and tubes of a regrowth serum to come back from.) Saving time and saving your eyebrows, this recipe is everything you need!

For Ice Cream:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups whole milk

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Optional: 1/4 cup dark rum

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg (and rum if you please). Stir until incorporated.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix and give it a final stir. If the cinnamon looks clumpy in the mixture, don’t panic. Your mixer will take care of it!

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

For Bananas Foster:

Ingredients:

• 4 peeled bananas

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• a dash of nutmeg

• 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into 8 pieces

• 4 sheets of foil to wrap bananas in

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 or if you’re using a grill, a medium-hot fire. (If you’re grilling meat prior to grilling this, wait about 5-10 minutes for the grill to cool down and bit and then you’re good to go. See also: girl, eat that delicious steak and then worry about your dessert!)

2. Place bananas on their sides on each piece of foil.

3. Divide seasonings evenly between each banana.

4. Place two pieces of butter on each banana.

5. Bring all of the foil seams to the top and fold down (like a little banana tent). You don’t want any butter spilling out into your grill or the bottom of your oven!

6. Place on the grill for 15 minutes, or until banana is soft. If you’re using an oven, place bananas on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until banana is soft.

7. Serve immediately with cinnamon ice cream and enjoy!

Jazzed Up Banana Bread

I feel as if banana bread needs no introduction, it is standard fare in most home kitchens. But this isn’t your grandmother’s banana bread. I am all for classics, but sometimes you need to throw on a pair of leopard heels and a studded bag to jazz things up a bit! That is exactly what we have here, a classic that has been given a little makeover! Don’t worry you’ll still recognize her; she’s just a little more fun than you remember—with plenty of sugar and spice—and a little twist (of lemon!).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)

• 1/3 cup greek yogurt ( I used Fage 2%)

• 2 tsps vanilla

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup bananas, mashed

• 1/2 tsp lemon zest

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Mash 3-4 bananas, to achieve 1 cup, to your liking. I like mine a little more chunky! Set to the side.

3. In a large bowl combine, flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir and set to the side.

4. In a stand mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer, combine butter, sugars, and beat until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Beat in yogurt, then eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Add in vanilla and lemon zest. I grated my lemon zest right over the bowl! I wanted my batter to catch all of the oil that is released when grating! Stir together.

5. Slowly pour in dry ingredients into wet, mixing until just combined.

6. Add in bananas and bring together.

7. Pour into a greased and lined loaf pan. I simply cut a rectangular piece of parchment paper and let the sides hang over the pan so I can lift my bread out easily.

8. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

No cook Banana Pudding

The crust is a premade cookie. The filling is chopped fruit (premade too, I guess you could say) and no-cook, instant vanilla pudding. The topping is whipped cream. The typing up of this recipe is honestly more time-consuming than the actual making of it. I suppose I could have made my own pudding for this, but I am rationing my cartons of eggs for the double recipe of Meyer Lemon Pie that I am going to make tomorrow and that is a nonnegotiable for our Easter table (I will be sharing the recipe for that tomorrow!). Could I have made a fancy meringue too? Yes, but again I am making a pie tomorrow that warrants that amount of formality. Banana Pudding is a let your hair down dessert and I appreciate its unpretentious, approachable nature. While this pudding might be semi-homemade, don’t let the shortcuts fool you, it is truly delicious. If you have some bananas that need to be used, it is a great vehicle for that too! Also, because it does not involve a hot stove or oven, this would a great recipe for little ones to help with in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Nilla Wafers

• 6-7 bananas

• 1 box of instant vanilla pudding, 5 oz size

• 1 tbsp powdered sugar

• 2 cups of heavy cream

Method:

1. Make vanilla pudding according to box’s instructions and set to the side.

2. Beat powdered sugar and whipping cream until stiff peaks form and set to the side.

3. Slice bananas to about 1/8in. thickness and set to the side.

4. Now assemble:

   In a 9x13 dish, put down a layer of Nilla Wafers cookies to cover the bottom of dish. Place half of sliced bananas on top of the cookies, cover with half of the pudding mixture, smoothing it out. Place another layer of cookies on top of the pudding, place the rest of the bananas on top, and then top with the rest of the pudding mixture. Top with the whipped cream and crumble some the remaining cookies on top for show.

   Save a couple of cookies for a low moment and stash in a safe place!

5. Place pudding into the fridge to chill for 3-4 hours.

6. Or eat it before it chills. Honestly, there are no rules for quarantine-cooking.