Cookies and cream, of a sort.

I started baking in earnest a decade ago at my first job at Vintage/Anchor Books, a part of the Knopf Group (itself a part of Random House — now Penguin Random House), because I had a group of people to experiment on. In those days I was particularly fond of banana pudding, likely because of the Magnolia Bakery empire, and I often made it for work events. I haven’t made it in years, but there’s something so satisfying about the flavor and texture combinations that I felt like trying it out in ice cream form. You can buy Nilla wafers, or use the Serious Eats recipe, which you’ll only need half of for the ice cream.

Vintage Banana Pudding

(modified from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop)

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups cream

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

3 ripe bananas

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

30 Nilla Wafers, crumbled into small pieces (or half Serious Eats’ recipe)

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Chop the bananas into ½ inch pieces and toss in a medium bowl with butter and brown sugar. Line a baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in oven for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking. Scrape bananas and syrup into food processor or blender. Add milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt; puree until smooth. Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour. Take one quarter of Nilla Wafers and place in bottom of container that you will freeze ice cream in; reserve another quarter to the side in one bowl and remaining half in a second bowl.

When chilled, process the base in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Add half of Nilla Wafers to mixture when it is almost solid. Pour into container, and top with remaining quarter Nilla Wafers. Freeze for eight hours.