Look at this avocado-lime ice cream dessert we made. Beautiful, if I say so myself. 🙂 Incredibly delicious and the perfect finale to our dinner, especially on a hot summer day.

No, I’m not lying and I’m not crazy. This really is an avocado-lime ice cream and it’s absolutely delicious. Now, I realize a lot of you are saying there is no way you can make an avocado dessert. Just stay with me because avocado is exceptionally versatile for all of the reasons we like it as a savory dish. Think about it. We like avocado in salsa, in salads, in sandwiches, on toast, baked with an egg inside, roasted and stuffed with various meats and fillings, in tacos, as holders for shrimp/crab salad, etc. The reason we like avocado in all of these variations is its mild/mellow flavor and exceptional creaminess. The same logic applies with dessert. It’s creamy because it is full of natural fats that are good for you. In fact, when is the last time you heard a doctor tell you not to eat avocados because they are full of fat? They don’t. This is because avocados are a good source of fiber, potassium, and vitamins C, K, folate, and B6. Half an avocado has 160 calories, 15 grams of heart-healthy unsaturated fat, and only 2 grams saturated fat. One avocado contains more than one-third daily value of vitamin C, and more than half the day’s requirements of vitamin K. Also, recent research shows that antioxidants, such as lycopene and beta-carotene, are better absorbed with the healthy monounsaturated fat that is in abundance in avocados. Oh, but I digress once again. The point is because they are so full of fat, avocados can and are used as a fat substitute in baking and desserts. There are countless vegan recipes out there for chocolate avocado cakes, berry avocado muffins, avocado pancakes, avocado custards, etc. The list goes on and on and these people aren’t old organic, communal hippies who are making marijuana brownies either. Some of them are vegans looking for a suitable non animal fat for a variety of things. Others are chefs. Still others are the curious and adventurous, like me, who will try almost anything.

Avocado ice cream has been around for a long time. I had seen it as a child in Mexico although I wasn’t nearly as adventurous then. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I became curious. When I finally got around to trying it, I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s really good, very rich and creamy. If you have never tried this, you will be very surprised at how good this really is. There also are various avocado combinations for the ice cream. This one just so happens to be avocado-lime. To me, it reminds me of a very nice key lime pie filling but creamier. You really cannot taste the avocado but the richness from the avocado is definitely there. Now, some of you are going to think that this is a custard ice cream so no wonder it’s rich and creamy. If that’s what you think, you are sadly mistaken. While the custard does make this ice cream rich and creamy, the avocado takes this truly over the top. If you don’t believe me, give this recipe a try, especially if you like key lime pie. This is what we did.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 – 3 ripe, small to medium avocados, peeled, pitted and mashed
• 2 limes, juiced (roughly 6 – 7 Tbsp)
• 1 Tbsp Tequila
• 2 cups heavy cream

Instruction

Add milk to saucepan.

Slit the vanilla bean down the middle or reasonably close thereto.

Scrape out the seeds and flesh.

Put scraped vanilla, into saucepan with milk,

along with pods – no reason to waste

I had made some vanilla scented sugar that I was using in this recipe, so I placed the vanilla pods from the sugar into the milk as well. 🙂

Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and let it cool and let the vanilla infuse for roughly 30 minutes. No reason for an actionless photo here.

When vanilla has infused into milk, add cream

sugar

and a large pinch of salt.

Now, heat the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and the temperature has reached 170 F.

Remove from heat and remove the pods.

Place egg yolks in a bowl and temper the egg yolks by slowly adding 1 cup of the heated sugar cream mixture to the eggs and whisking until the egg yolks and cream mixture are fully incorporated.

Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the cream and sugar mixture.

Return the saucepan to medium low heat, whisking frequently, heating until the mixture reaches 176 F or until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and place pan in a ice water bath to cool, whisking periodically.

Peel and dice avocado

Put avocado into blender.

Add lime juice.

Add custard base by pouring through a sieve.

Blend until it is very smooth.

Pour mixture into your ice cream freezer.

Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s directions. When it is almost done and stiffening, add the tequila.

Because alcohol has a higher freezing point, the ice cream will melt a little. So continue to freeze. When it firms back up like this,

put in a container and freeze for at least 2 hours. It’s OK to taste it when it’s at this stage because I know you won’t be able to wait. We couldn’t either. 😀

To serve

You can serve this very simply in a bowl or ice cream/sorbet glass but we like it with a little sliced, ripe mango, toasted, unsweetened coconut and toasted macadamia nuts. Serve and enjoy! Enjoy you will because you won’t believe how delicious this dessert is. 🙂