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banana milkshake recipe
Photo: adactio on Flickr

Developed at Brennan’s Restaurant for a favored customer, Mr. Foster, fresh bananas sautéed in butter and brown sugar, gently spiced with cinnamon, doused with rum and flamed dramatically, and served with vanilla ice cream is a classic dessert from New Orleans. Since ice cream is part of the program already, I figured it was just one blender away from a shake.

Since the bananas end up in a puree it doesn’t matter if they are a little overripe when you start. Steer clear of green-tinted underripe bananas, though, because they won’t be quite as sweet as they should be. If you’d like, reserve a slice or two of the cooked banana to garnish the shakes, and a dollop of whipped cream couldn’t hurt, either.

To make a Pineapple Foster Shake, substitute 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks (about 16 ounces/454 grams), well drained, for the banana and increase the cooking time to 5 minutes (the pineapple will look dry and very, very lightly browned).