A rich homemade butterscotch sauce (adapted from Saveur) makes this ice cream sundae something special. Scatter with sliced banana and pistachios, for texture and flavor.

  • Yield: 1 sundae, with extra sauce
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Total: 25 mins, plus cooling time for the sauce 
  • Active: 15 mins

Ingredients (13)

For the sauce:

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1⁄4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1⁄3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon dark rum
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

For the sundae:

  • 2 scoops vanilla ice cream (or 1 scoop vanilla, 1 scoop chocolate)
  • 1/2 a ripe banana, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons lightly toasted pistachios
  • 2 tablespoons butterscotch sauce, above

Instructions

To make the butterscotch sauce:

  1. Heat the butter, corn syrup, and 1⁄4 cup of water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the butter has melted.
  2. Stir in the granulated sugar and the brown sugar and scrape down sides of pan with a rubber spatula. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat (don’t stir at this point). Cook until the mixture is light brown and a candy thermometer inserted in sauce reads 245°F, 6 to 8 minutes.
  3. Remove from the heat. Carefully pour in the heavy cream, rum, vanilla extract, salt, and lemon juice. Stir to mix well. Cool to room temperature before using.

To assemble the sundae:

  1. Place the 2 scoops of ice cream in a bowl.
  2. Scatter over the banana slices and pistachios, drizzle with the butterscotch sauce, and serve.