🍌🍦Banana Ice Cream with perfect texture and mouthfeel - with or without xanthan gum!

In this video, I will show you how to make banana ice cream using only milk, heavy cream, sugar, xanthan gum, and fresh bananas. I've kept the recipe simple, making it perfect on its own. However, if you love to enhance flavors, be sure to watch the video until the end where I'll share my favorite tips on how to boost the flavor. If you're new to my channel, let me introduce xanthan gum. It's a great ingredient that reduces the heavy cream needed, allowing us to make eggless ice cream with a rich mouthfeel. If you don't have xanthan gum, you can omit it and add more heavy cream instead. Below, I'll provide instructions for the version without xanthan gum. To prepare the ice cream mixture, begin by pouring half of the cold milk into a blender jug. Then, pour the remaining milk into a saucepan and add the sugar. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and warm the mixture, stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved, increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a full boil. Tips for success. 1. If the milk boils before the sugar fully dissolves, it may curdle. Therefore, stir to ensure the sugar is completely dissolved and then increase the heat. 2. Never turn your back to boiling milk. It boils over rapidly. Pour the boiling hot milk into the blender jug along with the cold milk. With the blender on, slowly sprinkle the xanthan gum over the surface of the liquids. Blend for exactly 2 minutes. Make sure to time it rather than just estimating. Once the 2 minutes are up, turn off the blender and prepare the bananas. To prepare the bananas, start by cutting them into large chunks. Next, use the back of a fork to gently press down on the chunks to slightly crush them, being careful not to pray them. The goal is to keep the banana in chunks while creating small cavities in the bananas to maximize infusion of the ice cream mixture with banana flavor. Make sure not to create banana pulp that could end up in the ice cream mixture after straining, potentially altering the balance of the recipe. Place the crushed bananas in a bowl and pour the xanthan gum mixture over them, ensuring you scrape any remaining residue from the blender. Finally, add the cold heavy cream and stir thoroughly to combine all the ingredients. The ice cream mixture is lukewarm. Place it in the refrigerator for at least overnight or up to 2 days after resting in the fridge overnight. The ice cream mixture is cold and ready for churning. Before churning the ice cream mixture, we have to strain it. First, give it a thorough stirring. Using a slotted spoon, lift out roughly half of the bananas and place them in a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl. Gently stir with a rubber spatula to release as much of the ice cream mixture as possible. Be careful not to press the bananas through the sieve, only the ice cream mixture. Transfer the strained bananas to a separate bowl. Next, transfer most of the leftover bananas to the strainer and pour the ice cream mixture over them. Again, gently stir to release more of the ice cream. Make sure to scrape off any ice cream residues from the bottom of the sieve. Once done, place the bananas into a bowl and set them aside for another use, such as adding them to your favorite banana cake. Thoroughly stir the ice cream mixture. Prepare the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. With the machine running, pour the ice cream mixture into the canister of the ice cream maker. Churn the mixture until it becomes creamy and has a wavy texture. The churning time will vary depending on the ice cream maker. In this particular model, it takes about 40 minutes, while others may take up to 70 minutes. Remove the ice cream maker bowl from the machine. Take out the paddle and scrape any excess ice cream back into the bowl. Immediately after churning, the ice cream will have a soft consistency resembling soft-serve ice cream and will melt upon contact with anything. Place the bowl in the freezer to firm up the ice cream until it reaches a scoopable consistency. When the ice cream is at scoopable consistency, you can serve it from the ice cream maker bowl or transfer to a container for longer storage. As promised, I will share three tips to enhance the flavor of your banana ice cream. First, I recommend using high-quality raw cane sugar, such as dimerara, instead of regular sugar. This type of sugar has a natural caramel flavor that complements the banana beautifully. Second, consider adding egg yolks to create a custard-based ice cream. This technique results in a rich custard banana flavor that I absolutely love. I will include a link on how to do this in the description box. Lastly, you can add 23 drops of banana flavoring you know, the artificial kind. While I'm not fond of it, when used in moderation and combined with real bananas, it boosts the natural banana flavor. All the tips mentioned are complimentary, and this banana ice cream is perfect as is. See you in the next video. Happy churning.