Yield: 1 quart

Wheeler del Torro’s The Vegan Scoop rules! His basic formula combined with my friend Shelley’s recommendation for banana-nut ice cream and my penchant for anything caramelized led to this concoction. As a child, I was “mad” for Brennan’s Restaurant’s Banana’s Foster on pre-vegan trips to New Orleans: bananas caramelized and flamed tableside and served over rich vanilla ice cream. Out of the fire and into the freezer comes this vegan-approved almost guilt-free pleasure with a bow to Sin City.

1-14.5 ounce can coconut milk, with 1/4 cup poured into a small cup or bowl
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
3/4 brown sugar
2-3 bananas, sliced about 3/4-1″ thick
1 1/4 cups plain soy creamer
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted macadamia nuts (if macdamia nuts would break the bank, your favorite nut will do nicely)

In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/4 cup coconut milk and arrowroot powder until smooth. Set aside. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and cook until dissolved. Lower heat just slightly if mixture is cooking too fast. Add banana slices and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 3-5 minutes or until bananas soften and begin to caramelize. remove from heat and mash right in the skillet with a potato masher. (If you use a non-stick skillet, remove bananas before mashing, or you will scratch the surface.) Place the remaining coconut milk, soy creamer, cinnamon stick and mashed bananas into a medium saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium-high, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in coconut milk-arrowroot mixture until very smooth followed by the vanilla extract. Allow to cool to room temperature, whisk again if lumps remain, and then cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight until thoroughly chilled. Whisk to remove any remaining lumps and then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. (I use a Cusinart electric ice cream maker.) When ice cream is almost frozen, pour in chopped nuts and continue freezing so that they are well distributed. Scrape ice cream into an airtight container and store in freezer.