FoodHappy

Today we wrap up our avocado adventure and, as promised, our destination is dessert:  

The Isle of Avocado Ice Cream.

Now, I’ve got to be honest: what started off for me as an adventure quickly became a science experiment.

Not content with throwing things in a blender and hoping for the best, I wanted to manipulate individual ingredients, batch by batch, to find out what worked best: lime juice versus orange, sugar versus honey, milk versus cream versus yogurt versus…well, you get the picture.

So did I, and I realized that if I went down that road, I’d be making ice cream forever. Certainly not the worst thing in the world, but I think you and I both would bore of me pretty quickly.  

So I made three very different batches, shared with friends, and drew from the best bits of each batch to come up with the recipe below. I’ve gone with:

- Whole milk: the avocado provides enough richness on its own and, with summer on the (distant) horizon, I figured you guys would be up for something more refreshing than rich. 
- Orange juice: more mellow than lime, it doesn’t compete with the avocado flavour and steers the result in the direction of dessert rather than dip.
- One avocado and a good dose of sugar: The ratio, I think, will leave you with a dessert that tastes like avocado ice cream and not icey avocado (as was the case with one batch; oops).

But if it doesn’t sound right up your alley, let me know, because I have three other recipes kicking around. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can always lead an avocado expedition - or experiment - of your own! 

Either way, I hope you’ll give it a try and find out why avocados are considered dessert-worthy by so much of the world. With a bit of bravery and creativity, you may find that you not only churn out a conversation-worthy dessert, but also a willingness to explore the unconventional possibilities of all sorts of ingredients. Pretty cool (pun mostly not intended) for an ice cream, I’d say! 
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Avocado Ice Cream
Makes ~2 cups 
Note: I chose to share this batch because I think it will have the widest appeal. However, because most of you (like me) are probably new to avocado-y desserts, I’ve kept the quantities small so that, in the event you don’t like it, you’ve only got a little bit to get rid of (read: hand off to an avocado-loving friend). I’d say give the mixture a taste after you’ve done the blending and, if you’re digging the idea, double everything up! 

Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted (~1 cup)*
1 cup of whole milk (~3%)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp freshly-squeezed orange juice
Pinch of salt 

Directions
1. Pop everything in a blender and whirr until smooth. If the mixture isn’t super-cold, put it in the fridge for half an hour, then give it one last whirr. 

2. Pour chilled mixture into your ice cream machine** and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.*** Once it’s done in the machine, transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe container and freeze until it’s firmed up to your liking (I like this stuff on the softer side). If your ice cream freezes quite hard, give it a few minutes to warm up before you start scooping.


*Not sure how to peel and pit an avocado? Check out this post! 
**No machine? Check out the tips at the end of the post to see how to make ice cream without a machine!
***This stuff will freeze quickly - it only took about 10 minutes in my machine, compared to the usual 20-30 for most ice creams. 
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To make ice cream without an ice cream maker: 
These instructions come from David Lebovitz, ice cream inventor extraordinaire! 

1. Chill mixture until very cold.
2. Pour in a shallow, freezer-safe dish and pop in the freezer.
3. Once edges start to freeze (I’d check after 30 minutes or so), give the mixture a vigorous stir to break up any ice crystals. A hand-held mixer will provide the best results, though a spatula or whisk will work too. Repeat every 30 minutes or so over the next 2-3 hours or until ice cream is frozen. And now you have ice cream!