Caramelised Banana and Vanilla Smoothie

Following yesterday's post, this is my second and final entry to the Food Blogger Connect Giveaway for a full weekend pass to the FBC 2011 event.
Thank you Cusinart for sponsoring such a great giveaway! Did I mention it also includes the opportunity to participate in a cooking demo with Anjum Anand?
To enter the giveway, you either have to come up with a smoothie recipe yourself, choose one from Cusinart or from one of Anand Anjum's books. Similar to yesterday, this is one of my own creations.
I am not surprised, there have been many applications with some great flavour combinations so I wish all my fellow foodies the best of luck ;-)
As a sweet treat, afternoon pick-me-up or even as a dessert, I like to whip up my caramelised and banana smoothie. Think of it as banoffee pie,without the biscuit base!
The challenge with this recipe is to make sure you take the melted sugar off the heat in time before it burns.Practice makes perfect and a lot of sticky pans!

Sweet Treat - Caramelised Banana and Vanilla Smoothie

Timing:
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes

Portion Control:
2 x 250 ml servings

Ingredients:
2 bananas, skinned and thickly sliced
50g of caster sugar
25 grams of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of cold water
2 generous scoops of vanilla ice cream
8 medium to large ice cubes

Directions:

• In a large frying pan, heat the sugar over a moderate heat, after about 1-2 minutes the sugar will start to caramelise around the edges of the pan. Stir the sugar with a wooden spoon until the sugar has changed to a golden amber colour, being careful not to burn the mixture
• Remove from the heat and add the butter, vanilla extract and cold water to slow down the cooking process. Stir the mixture thoroughly ensuring the butter has sufficiently melted.
• Empty the chopped banana into the frying pan and coat the fruit with the sugary mixture.
• Put the frying pan back onto the heat and cook the bananas for a further 90 seconds ensuring both sides of the banana slices have been exposed to the heat.
• In a blender, put in the ice cubes, ice cream and the caramelised banana and remaining juices.
• Blitz the mixture for about 40 seconds ensuring the ice cubes have been sufficiently crushed.
• Pour mixture into two glasses and consume immediately!

All you need is a straw and some sunshine!

Vanilla pods can be substituted for vanilla extract.This can be a sweet concoction, so those of you watching the waistline, may wish to use a lighter version of vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy!