• Cooking Time: 30 minutes
• Servings: 6-8
• Preparation Time: 20 minutes
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 medium, ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup good quality hot fudge topping (I used Mrs. Richardson’s)
• 1 premade Oreo pie crust

1. Combine the cream and the milk in a medium sized heavy saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the cream/milk mixture; add the rest of the bean.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar until thick, about 1-2 minutes. Whisk the eggs into the cream/milk mixture and heat until it just comes to a boil, whisking constantly. Continue to heat until mixture thickens slightly and is able to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl, cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
3. When the custard is thoroughly chilled, remove the vanilla bean, and pour into an ice cream machine. Add the bananas and churn, per manufacturer’s directions, until the desired consistency is achieved, about 30 minutes.
4. Spread ½ cup fudge on the bottom of the pie crust. Top with half of the ice cream and repeat, ending with ice cream. Cover and freeze pie until firm. Serve with additional hot fudge, if desired.

For my daughter's birthday, it is a tradition in our family to have a banana fudge ice cream cake from the local creamery. This year, however, when I called to order it, the young man on the phone told me that they didn't make banana ice cream (I still think he had no clue). So, it was up to me to come up with one....soooo glad I did! Easy and even better!