Homemade Mango Ice Cream ( No-cook, no eggs and no machine!)

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't dig ice cream. Have you? I mean, from the very first time our moms introduced them to us as kids, we're hooked for life! Whatever they put into those creamy, luscious, cool stuff feels like heaven on earth, that no kid's birthday will ever be complete without it.

Fast forward to many years later, we have tasted so many different flavors, international and local. I could still remember when I was in elementary, mom and I went through a grocery isle and there were pouches of various flavors of instant ice cream mixes. The names excited me though I never figured out what they were. But I could not remember how they tasted, after we made them and soon enough, they were no longer available in groceries.

        When I was in high school, a lone Coney Island Ice Cream Scooping station opened in Davao City. I always went for Pistachio and Bubblegum flavors. But then, it closed shop in just two years.

       The original ice cream brand available locally then, was Magnolia, and flavors came in Ube ( Purple Yam), Vanilla, Mango, Macapuno, Halo-halo, Buko Salad and Chocolate.

        A few years later, Nestle launched its ice cream line and aside from the above flavors; Nestle introduced Cookies and Cream, Butterscotch, Rocky Road, Ube-Macapuno ( Purple Yam and Coconut Sport), Ube-Langka ( Purple Yam and Jackfruit), Double Dutch and Buko-Pandan ( Young Coconut and Screwpine).

        After these was a slew of new and more commercial brands like Sorbetero Pilipino Ice Cream, Arce Dairy, Magnolia Sorbetes and Selecta. 

      About 4 years ago, more affordable ice creams flooded the markets with two or more flavors combined in one small tub. When I tried them though, I had only one reaction: "what??? Noooo! this is not real ice cream!" Those taste like soft-serve ice cream and the flavors are chemical-tasting.

        So, as I was beginning to be more conscious of my family's health and the food I was serving, I avoided ice cream altogether. I thought if I could find a recipe for making them myself, I would certainly love that. Because I would know what they're made of.

        One day my mom handed me a note; someone gave it to her, an ice cream recipe that did not include eggs or cooking. Immediately, I went out to buy the ingredients and tried the recipe. It took me almost two days, simply because my freezer wasn't freezing food efficiently. I used mangoes because they were in abundance. When it was time to put the ice cream to the taste test; O.M.G! No more fake ice cream for me!

        Today we're making real ice cream with real ingredients, and real fruit. The recipe is very basic, you can change up the fruit anytime. I have made Cookies and Cream, Ube ( Purple Yam), Mango Float Ice Cream and Fruit Salad. 

        If your freezer is super efficient, the entire process will be done in 6 hours more or less. The actual prep time is only 45 minutes, tops. Its the freezing and defrosting and refreezing that will take up the most time.

Mango Ice Cream

So let's make the creamiest, freshest, silkiest homemade mango ice cream without an ice cream maker. The most equipment you will need would be a blender or food processor and if you have, a Kitchen Aid or hand mixer.

INGREDIENTS:

ice cream ingredients with mango on foreground

1 pound fresh fruit ( I used Samal variety mangoes ) half a kilo

2 250 ml. All Purpose Cream

2 cans 250 ml. Evaporated or Fresh milk

1-2 cans 350ml condensed milk 

PROCEDURE:

1. In a glass, stainless metal or plastic bowl, combine cream, milk and condensed milk. If using sweet/sour fruit like strawberries, use up both cans of condensed milk. As always, adjust the sweetness according to your taste. Stir to mix well. Freeze. ( You can do this at night before going to bed ). I used the Kitchen Aid bowl to freeze it fast.

icy mixture

2. Wash, peel, cut up your freshest fruits and puree using a blender or food processor. You may also slice more fruit into huge chunks for mixing in later. Set aside.

3. Remove the bowl from the freezer and let the bowl sit out on the table. Wait until the cream mixture is soft enough for the Kitchen Aid or hand mixer to whip. You will notice that the frozen mixture is icy and thick and dense. Beat at slow speed for a few minutes, and increase to high speed until the mixture has doubled in bulk. We are incorporating a lot of air to make the cream fluffy, airy and fine-textured. 

From less than half the bowl,

 to almost full, hooray for Kitchen Aid!

4. After about 10-15 minutes of high speed mixing, the mixture shall have taken a thick but fluffy texture. You will see that the tiny amount I scooped held its shape. Taste it to test if the texture is fine enough.

holding its shape

5. Divide the mixture into two tubs, add about 2 cups of fruit puree to each tub and fold. You may add food color if you wish. Cover the tubs and freeze. If adding chunks of fruit, let freeze an hour, and then take out to mix them in, and refreeze.

adding the puree

Done folding the mango puree and yellow food color

Freezing them into two tubs

6. Serve straight out of the freezer, any which manner you want, with  more fresh fruit, drizzles of ice cream topping or as is.

Luscious, fruity, fresh, silky homemade Mango Ice Cream

NOTE: For Cookies and Cream, I used a big pack of Oreos. I processed all, but three individual packs. These I broke off into large pieces. After folding in the powdered Oreos, stir in the huge chunks and freeze.

         For an ALL-FILIPINO parade of Ice Cream Flavors: 

        For Mango Float flavor, I broke chunks of Graham Crackers and plopped them into the tubs. Then added thin mango slices ( mango balls sink to the bottom ). After Freezing one hour, added more mango puree in a thin stream in a circling motion on the surface and then slightly, with a stroke or two, cut across the cream to swirl that in. Then froze the whole thing.

        For Buko Salad Ice Cream, a cup of young coconut strings and a cup of chopped, drained, canned fruit cocktail is mixed in, after re-freezing the whipped mixture. Vanilla flavoring and a little pink food color is added.

Buko Salad Ice cream

        For Buko Pandan Ice Cream, add 2 cups young coconut strings and a few drops of Pandan (Screwpine) Flavoring until you get the desired taste. Add a few drops of green food color until it has a mint tint.

Buko Pandan

           For Ube, Ube-Macapuno or Ube-Langka Ice Cream, add 2 cups boiled, pureed purple yam and a cup of either Macapuno (Coconut Sport) or sweetened jackfruit strings. For Ube-langka divide ice cream into two portions. Tint one yellow, and the other one violet food color, freeze slightly until it maybe scooped into a third large container alternately to create that swirl of color.

Ube-Macapuno Ice Cream

Ube-Langka

 If on your first attempt, the solid items settle at the bottom, cut your pieces smaller and add them in when the ice cream has some resistance to your mixing spoon.

        The flavors here are All-Filipino save for Cookies and Cream.

         My ice cream gets requested every time someone can think of an excuse. After you have tried homemade ice cream with real fruits, you will never look at grocery ice cream the same way again. You have come home to real, good, Filipino food. After trying our ice cream flavors, you might just become a Filipino food junkie too.

         Thank you for visiting and have a great summer everyone in the western world! 

NOTE: Before I forget! Although mangoes are much celebrated in my country, we avoid them when our throats are scratchy or feel that a cough is coming on. Mangoes, bless them, can aggravate these conditions. Otherwise, eat as much as you can!