Juli's Hawaiian Ice Cream

So, Jeffrey promised home-made ice cream to his co-workers for their upcoming potluck.  The only problem was, I couldn't find the recipe.  I looked in Jeffrey's cookbook shelf.  I looked in the little bookcase we have in our coat closet.  I looked in the back of our family cookbook, for the stray recipe sheets I knew were there.  Nothing!  I even looked at the two laundry baskets of miscellaneous stuff I've been meaning to put away for more than a year.  Still nothing. 

Fortunately, I had one place left to look:  the bottom shelf of our living room bookcase.  That's where I found a treasure-trove of ice cream recipes - my whole collection, in fact.  There were recipes for Georgia Peach Ice Cream, Colorado Peach Ice Cream, Grape Sherbet, Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream,  Grandma's Chocolate Ice Cream, and Watermelon Raspberry Surprise Sherbet.  This recipe, though, is probably my favorite.  I worked with it a long time to get the heavy and light cream proportions just right, and to have just enough tropical fruit without overpowering the rich cream base.

This recipe makes 4 quarts (1 gallon).  If your ice cream maker is a 2 quart-style, just halve everything.  But, if you've been thinking about buying a ice cream maker, I highly recommend getting the larger size machine.  Since ice cream has to be stored in the freezer anyway, why would you want to make just a tiny little bit?

My ice cream maker is very inexpensive, and is a real workhorse.  Jeffrey would like to have the Cuisinart ice cream maker, but as long as the good old Hamilton Beach keeps cranking out great ice cream (twice as much ice cream capacity for less than half the price!), I don't see any reason to switch.

This is all you have to wash up from assembling the ice cream!

I've brought this for church choir potlucks, and everyone has loved it.  Enjoy!

Juli's Hawaiian Ice Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 cups half and half cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 ripe, average-size bananas)
2 8-ounce cans crushed pineapple
2/3 cup sweetened flake coconut

1.  Measure the creams, lemon juice and sugar directly into the ice cream canister and stir well. 

2.  In a one-cup measure, squish up peeled banana chunks with a fork until the measure is full.  Drain the cans of pineapple, saving the juice in a coffee cup - give to husband to enjoy if you're feeling generous, otherwise drink yourself or save for later use.  Add to ice cream canister.  Add coconut to canister, and stir well.

3.  Freeze ice cream according to manufacturer's instructions.

Recipe Note:  Unless you've really planned ahead and saved ice cubes for days, you'll probably have to buy 1 or more bags of ice.  A small price to pay for the little piece of heaven that is homemade ice cream!

The ice cream is ready to harden in the freezer