A tweet from former Seattleite and pro pastry chef Dana Cree intrigued me: “if you buy coconut cream as well as milk you can make ice cream w/o any thickeners. 20% cream, 55% milk. 25% sugar + salt tt”
That was in September. It was cold. I didn’t make any ice cream. I filed the tweet away for a sunny day.
On Saturday, that day arrived. I bought the three beautiful champagne mangoes to flavor the ice cream. Or rather, the frozen dessert: without milk, cream, or eggs, it’s barely ice cream. Of course, not being able to leave well enough alone, I reduced the sugar a little, since the mango would add sweetness and added a few flavors. A little serrano pepper here, some lime juice there.
Suddenly, it seemed to be perfectly timed to be used in celebrating Cinco de Mayo, in just over a week. Sure it’s sort of an overblown holiday, that I’m pretty sure American school teachers latched onto solely because it was in May and they had completely run out of other ideas on what to do with small children for seven hours a day.
Regardless of the origins, I support any holiday that involves the following: Tequila, funny hats, spicy foods, and monkeys dressed up in human clothes. Cinco de Mayo has three of the four, so I’ll take it. And I’ll celebrate with mango ice cream.
Mango Ice Cream (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Coconut Cream
- 2.75 Cup Coconut Milk
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 lb Mango (3 Champagne Mangoes)
- 1 Serrano Pepper, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Lime worth of juice and zest
Cooking Directions
- Blend the mango and serrano pepper in a food processor until there are no more big chunks.
- Add the coconut cream, milk, and sugar.
- Zest the lime into the mix, add the juice and blend.
- Salt to taste.
- Cool the mixture for four hours (give or take a few, depending on your patience). It is not getting heated, so the base needs less time to cool).
- Process in your ice cream maker.
I happen to have some coconut cream leftover after cocktail making this weekend. I’m going to give this a whirl!
Is there another way to make this without an ice cream processor?
Most ice creams can be made by freezing, then scrapping and mixing every 30 minutes or so until it’s totally frozen, but it’s a lot of work, and I don’t think that the texture is as good. You can usually find an ice cream maker on sale for $35-50 or at goodwill for even less.