Scooped: Banana Bread Ice Cream

I'm not crazy about bananas, but I love banana nut bread. If I'm going to have some cake, it better be 1) crazy buttery, 2) really moist, and 3) so good as to render icing unnecessary. Great banana bread (which, let's be honest, is really cake) delivers on all three points, and, like baking alchemy, turns humble fruit into ridiculously aromatic, cakey gold.

The mix of mashed bananas, butter, and eggs looks a whole lot like an ice cream base, so why not make banana bread in ice cream form? You've probably seen the recipe for the much-lauded "One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream" (described, if you can believe it, as "miraculous" and "life-changing" by some); this is just a tad more involved.

Banana-based ice creams are great because the fruit replaces the egg in the custard—meaning that if you have a food processor and an hour to spare, you can have dessert on the table before the dishwasher is done. This recipe takes slightly longer than some other recipes, but it's well worth it. Instead of just mashing bananas with dairy, I first bake them with raw sugar until they turn into a banana caramel. Everyone within a 40 foot radius of your kitchen will thank you. (Or hate you, depending on whether they're invited for dessert.)

Serve this ice cream atop slices of banana bread for a double-dose banana-rama, or spoon it up with a puddle of hot fudge sauce. It's ridiculously good as soft serve, but takes a more cakey, banana bread-like texture when fully frozen.