Avocado Ice Cream (and other random Filipino Delights)

It seems like summer is almost over - and well that's possibly because for me at least, I will be jumping back into academia soon enough.  So, there is limited time to enjoy delicious icy treats.  (Although to be fair, considering how hot it gets in Texas, where I teach, I can probably enjoy icy treats into September.)  

I haven't yet worked myself up to a post on Halo-Halo, that iconic of Filipino desserts.  I'm also waiting for one of my fellow LG's (Logan Girls), T, to experience it, then maybe I can convince her to blog instead of me!

This stuff - although this photo is really swanky compared to what you get from street vendors.

At any rate, one of the many things that I enjoyed as a kid, along with green mango shakes, mango ice cream (just yeah, pretty much anything with mangoes) was Avocado Ice Cream.  Which, I know, might be baffling to some people who are firmly of the opinion that avocados belong in guacamole and in sandwiches.  But since even the great culinary genius, Alton Brown is on my side.  I encourage you to give it a whirl.  In fact, I even cheated and used his recipe (roughly, since I'm always prone to a little experimentation) instead of digging out our old one.  Did we even have a recipe?  Probably not. 

What to do!

First, you're obviously going to need avocados... I got mine on sale because as much as I LOVE avocados, they're pretty pricey outside of tropical climes, even when I'm in Texas, but up here in Indiana - they're usually just ridiculous.  So, hey, it was avocado season somewhere on the planet and thanks to that global food shipping thing (which delights some and terrifies others) I was able to get a big pile for very few dollars.

For those of you who don't regularly consume these buttery-delicious treats, I've found the best way to deal with them is cut all around and halve with a nice sharp knife, gently wack the knife into the pit, twist, pop out, and then use a large serving spoon to wiggle under and remove the meat all in one go.  I realize that explanation would have been better with photos.  Sorry.  
Also, if you save your pit (seed) and then bury it in an old flower pot, forget about it for several months and leave it in mild weather- chances are you'll have an avocado plant in several months.  Hopefully mine will still be alive when I get back to my apt.   

Anyways, I was getting sidetracked.  So I took 2 massive avocados, and put them in the blender.  

Then I added the juice of one lime.  Okay, obviously I cut up two here, but I was feeling zealous and I love limes, so it won't go to waste.  Make sure if there are seeds you squeeze through your fingers and don't you know, get it in your eyes  

 Blend vigorously.  Actually, I used the "puree" option.  

I should mention at this point that I also added whole milk (horrors!) and heavy cream.  (I accidentally read wrong and used 1 1/2 cups of cream and 1/2 cup of milk. (Oh yeah, it was tasty.) And 1/2 a cup of sugar, (ok, stevia and fructose - because sugar issues in this house).    If you were trying to be more healthy, you could use coconut milk (not like in the milk aisle, like in the "Ethnic Food aisle" instead.  Don't worry, recipe at the end. 

So it's all velvety and creamy and looks like this when you pour it into a container.  Also, I added another avocado at the end, for even more avocado-y goodness. 

Then you can do one of two things.  You can churn it in your ice cream maker- which I will definitely do next time I'm home, as I got one as a present!  This will make the ice cream incredibly smooth - buttery... 

Or, if you don't have one, you can freeze it for an hour or so, take it out, stir it up and freeze it again.  
Or, if you're us, you can just chunk it in the freezer overnight and then be patient (not my Mom's strong point) and wait for it to thaw.  

Even better with ginger snaps! 

The recipe: 
3 Avocados - the size will determine the intensity of the flavor.

1lime- juice squeezed.  Feel free to add some of the peel for extra zing 1 1/2 cups heavy cream or coconut milk 1/2 cup sugar or stevia or fructose or insert sugar substitute of your choice here.  (Although real sugar is hygroscopic - as Alton reminds us - and therefore will aid in the production of smaller ice crystals resulting in creamier ice cream.  1/2 Cup whole milk or almond milk.

Pinch of salt.