Buttermilk Mango Ice Cream

This recipe is based off of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream ice cream base. I had some very ripe mangoes and buttermilk to use up, so I decided to make some ice cream! The great thing about this recipe base is that you don’t have to worry about curdling eggs.

Makes about 1 quart of ice cream

• 1 1/2 cups of mango (any kind will do, but I used Ataulfo)
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1. Combine the mango and sugar in a small/medium bowl to macerate for a few minutes
2. Transfer to a blender or food processor, add the buttermilk, and blend until smooth. Set aside.
3. In a medium stainless steel bowl (or bowl that can take heat), whisk together cream cheese and salt until smooth. Set aside.
4. In a cup, add two tablespoons of the milk to the cornstarch to make a slurry. Set aside
5. In a medium saucepan (~4 quarts), combine the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar,  and light corn syrup. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes.
6. Remove from heat, and slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry. Return to heat and boil for about a minute while stirring continuously until thickened.
7. Add a little bit of the hot cream mixture to the cream cheese and whisk to temper. Add the rest of the hot cream and whisk until smooth and there are no lumps. Stir in the buttermilk mango mixture.
8. Cool the hot cream. *
9. Transfer the cooled ice cream base to containers and refrigerate until cold.
10. Pour the cold ice cream base into ice cream maker and churn until the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.
11. Quickly transfer the ice cream into freeze-safe container and cover/press down with a piece of parchment. Cover and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Scoop and enjoy!

*When I cool the ice cream base, I like to pour it into another stainless steel bowl that is fitted into a larger stainless steel bowl, which holds a ice water bath. Then I slowly spin the bowl holding the ice cream base while stirring to diffuse the heat. You can keep the ice water bath colder for longer by sprinkling salt (I find kosher salt works best and is most economical) onto the ice before adding water. Sometimes I’ll use cold-packs instead of ice. I also like to stick the stainless steel bowls and the container that the will be holding the finished ice cream in the freezer beforehand so everything is as cold as possible.

Jeni’s method, which works just as well, is to pour the ice cream base into a gallon freezer bag and place the bag into the ice water bath (careful not to get any excess water into the ice cream base). This maximizes the surface area of the ice cream base to be cooled (does that make sense?).