I have recently rediscovered my love for avocados. This jewel of a fruit (yes, it’s a fruit!) is loaded with vitamins, cancer-fighting compounds, and cholesterol-lowering fat. Most importantly, it tastes soooo goood and it’s super versatile. Of course, it’s all over South American cuisine, since it did originate from Mexico. But you can also enjoy it in sushi, with soy sauce, or even in a milkshake!
Did you know that an avocado has more potassium than a medium-sized banana? Or that in controlled experiments, people with high triglyceride or cholesterol levels put on an avocado-enriched diet saw a 22% reduction in their LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol), a 22% reduction in their triglyceride levels, and an 11% increase in their HDL-cholesterol (good cholesterol)?
Furthermore, studies seem to indicate that avocado extract, when put in the presence of prostate cancer cells, caused cell-cycle arrest in the cancer cells, essentially reducing their ability to proliferate.
Finally, avocados even help your body absorb other fat-soluble nutrients better. In fact, a study at the Ohio State University demonstrated that adding avocados to your salad greatly increased your absorption of caretenoids (linked to lower instances of cancer) from other vegetables in the salad.
If the fat in avocados are so good for you, why not replace bad fat in recipes with avocado fat?
That’s exactly what this (relatively) healthy yet delectably rich ice cream recipe does.
About 75% of an avocado’s calories come from fat, most of which is monounsaturated fat. As I mentioned earlier, this “good fat” lowers total cholesterol (17%) in people who have high cholesterol. The beauty of this recipe is that, it hardly uses any cream. A large chunk of the fat is good fat.
Maybe the idea of having avocados as a dessert sounds a bit strange to you. I would recommend giving it a try. It’s surprisingly smooth, creamy, and really really good.
Avocado Ice Cream
adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
3 avocados (preferably Hass)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 T freshly squeezed lime juice
Big pinch of salt
Cut open the avocados, remove the pits, and scoop out the flesh. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Freeze in your favorite ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
If you like softer ice cream, you can serve this right away. Otherwise, I would recommend putting it in the freezer and letting it harden (for at least 2 hours) before serving.
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Beautiful! That color is just amazing. Reminds me of green tea ice cream, with that subtle minty green. So natural and fresh!
Wow…such a healthy, creamy ice cream! I have always wanted to make avocado ice cream but just did not get down to doing it. Now I’m inspired and excited to try. Thanks very much for sharing. MaryMoh at http://www.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com
I have always wanted to try Avocado ice cream considering I love the fruit so much as it is. For awhile I was having one a day but it gets costly by me as they aren’t always that cheap.
Jeff was a fan!
(I was too, but Jeff *really* liked it)
Mmm that looks amazing! Ever since I bought his book, I’ve been meaning to try it. I love to make an avocado buttercream frosting (sans butter) on my cupcakes and top them with fresh blackberries, the colors pop and it doesn’t weigh you down like a normal cupcake.
And I love when people feature avocado as desserts because I’m Vietnamese and we typical eat avocados as fruit and dessert rather than just in salads/sandwiches/guacs as I see in American recipes
Avocado is my favorite food! I’ve been making Avocado shakes every morning… you might want to try. Just 1/2 Avocado (Haas), 1.5 teaspoons of condensed milk, 6 ice cubes, and about 1.5-2 cups of whole milk… into the blender! It looks a lot like your ice-cream! 🙂
I tried an avocado gelato once and LOVED it! This looks so creamy and delicious- I’ve been eyeing that recipe in my copy of The Perfect Scoop, maybe I’ll give this a try! Great pictures!
I’ve been thinking of making an avocado ice cream for a while now, but just haven’t taken the leap. Thank you for giving me the push I needed.
I can’t get enough of avocados. Love them especially in sandwiches and salads. In fact, I could just eat it plain with a little olive oil and sea salt. YUM!
I love avocado! Never thought of ice cream, but it looks delicious.
In Brazil we have not only a ice cream but also a drink with tapioca of
manioca.
That just sounds really really good! To be honest, I wasn’t used to the taste of sour cream in this ice cream. So I might like it even better if made your way – just simple condensed milk and whole milk. Now I gotta go pick up more avocados!
wow. i’ve always loved avocado but i had no idea it had such promising health benefits. i’ll continue trying to foist it upon my fiance…
Mmmm, love avocados, might have to try this!
wow, I’m so intrigued… I really can’t imagine how this would taste. I guess I’ll just have to make it!
having made avocado pie on many occasions, I fully support its role in dessert 🙂 I actually have some avocado flesh in my freezer, might need to try and adapt the recipe!
I just wanted to let you know that I made your recipe after trying Alton Brown’s (his came up first in the Google search) and yours is MUCH better. I also added melted white chocolate to the recipe to mimic an “avocado white chocolate milkshake” I’d had at a restaurant years earlier and it was absolutely delicious. I tried your mixture before adding the white chocolate and I can attest that it was still very tasty.
Thanks for posting this! I’m definitely bookmarking it…
Not just for dessert, but put some in spicy gazpacho. It really balances the spice well and is an excuse to have two (or more) ice creams for dinner.
Mmmm! Now this looks cool! I tried making avocado cupcakes… it ended up in my flop section. I’m not determined to make a dessert with avocados that will not end up there, and this might be it!
Was online looking for avacado ice cream recipes and avacado ice cream pop recipes. A year ago I had an avacado ice cream pop at one of our local farmers markets. The lady would not give me the recipe but did mention it had condensed milk in it. I looked up borden and eagle brand websites and no recipes!!! So I made up my own adapting the eagle brand recipe for latte cream pops: 2 cans condensed milk, 1 cup whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream (I had 1/2 & 1/2 and used 3 cups of that). 6 Haas avacados sprinkled with fruit fresh to discourage browning) pureed and blended in with a whisk to the condensed milk/1/2 & 1/2 mixture. I have a quick freeze popsicle maker. These cream pops are awesome! If you want you can put into your ice cream maker as it is great in ice cream form also. Yummy!
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Can someone tell why my avocado ice cream tastr bitter?