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Homemade Festive ice creams

Homemade Festive ice creams

Author: Wendy Smitten
Date: 2012-12-19
For all the wonderful ice creams that are commercially available, I find myself turning to a simple approach I devised years ago for whipping up vividly-flavoured tropical fruit ice creams with much less cream and sugar than usual.

When pureed, ripe bananas, papayas and/or mangos achieve the creamy silky texture that quantities of cream and egg yolks normally achieve.

The method is simple: chunks of the peeled fruit are frozen with sugar and lime, then pureed in a food processor with cream or coconut milk, resulting in suave, flavourful ice cream.

Leave out the cream and you have an intense fat free sorbet; a sorbet of pineapple, lime and a drizzle of dark rum is particularly refreshing.

The key to the velvety texture and intense flavor is that the fruit be truly ripe and fragrant.

Banana, Mango and/or Papaya Ice Cream
Serves 4
4 cups ripe, fragrant fruit,(peeled, seeded or cored asappropriate and cut into ?-inch chunks), such as:
3 medium mangoes (12 ounces each) OR
1 medium papaya (preferably red papaya) OR
2 very ripe large bananas
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
Sugar, brown sugar or honey, to taste
1 to 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or dark rum,
About 1/2 cup heavy cream, créme fraiche or unsweetened coconut milk, to taste (optional)
In a medium bowl, combine the fruit, limejuice and sugar.

Let sit at room temperature until the fruit has released its juices, about 1 hour.

Pour the mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until solid, at least 2 hours.

Break the fruit and transfer to a food processor.

Pulse until the fruit reduced to the texture of a crystalline meal, stopping frequently to scrape down the.

Add vanilla or alcohol to taste and additional sugar if necessary and pulse a few times more.

Then add the cream if desired and continue processing, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently, until the consistency of medium-soft ice cream.

Serve at once or transfer to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours. If the ice cream becomes frozen solid, place it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to soften.

Enjoy this festive Season!