This refreshing lilikoi (passionfruit) ice cream reminds me of being in the Hawaiian islands. It’s sweet yet tart, and it goes perfectly with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Have you ever heard of POG juice? If not, it is a 3-juice blend that is very common in Hawaii. It contains passionfruit orange and guava juices and is AWESOME. If you can find some, I highly recommend it. Anyway, passionfruit is a common ingredient in many Hawaiian dishes, mostly in drinks and desserts. They refer to passionfruit as lilikoi.
A few weeks ago, I bought a large container of passionfruit puree (juice) because I needed it for my Momofuku chocolate chip layer cake. Since I had so much juice left over, I wanted to make something else with it. Well, other than drink it straight (not recommended – it is SUPER tart and very, very concentrated).
Not surprisingly, we were running low on homemade ice cream so I thought it would be fun to make a passionfruit ice cream. Luckily for me, David Lebovitz had a recipe for passionfruit ice cream in his book. I thought that I had read the instructions correctly but did not. I mistakenly used too much heavy cream in my ice cream base (and then purposely left out the milk so it wouldn’t be too liquidy). Much to my surprise, this was one of the creamiest ice creams I’ve ever made. I don’t know if it was because of the extra cream I put into the custard or something else. But my husband noticed it too and asked me about it. Jokingly, I told him that I had put extra saliva in there. Ha ha!
Our ice cream was super smooth, creamy, and at the perfect temperature. Even when the custard sat in the freezer overnight, the ice cream did not harden too much. It was easily scoopable and melted perfectly. Since the ice cream was a little tart, I paired it with a generous scoop (or two – heh heh) of vanilla ice cream. Then I achieved the perfect balance of sweet and tart. I was in heaven – and I was immediately whisked away to Hawaii.
So I guess my honest mistake of mis-reading the instructions worked out in my favor this time. If you happen to passionfruits available, I highly recommend this recipe. As you can see, my family loved this as well!
Husband’s rating: 5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
My rating: 5 out of 5
Lilikoi (passionfruit) ice cream
Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh or frozen passionfruit pulp (from 6-8 fresh passionfruits) I used passionfruit puree
- 2 cups heavy cream divided
- 7 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- Pinch salt
- 3 large egg yolks
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the passionfruit puree and ½ cup of the heavy cream. Set a fine mesh strainer over the top and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, mix together the remaining heavy cream, sugar, and salt. Once the mixture starts to steam, pour about ½ cup of it into the small bowl with the egg yolks. Whisk vigorously so the eggs don't scramble.
- Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan and keep stirring until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Pour the mixture into the large bowl with the fine mesh sieve over the top to strain out any bits of cooked egg. Mix well until everything is smooth and uniform.
- Allow the mixture to come to room temperature. Then cover and chill overnight before churning. Once the mixture is cool, churn according to your manufacturer's directions. Cool another 6-8 hours before serving.
- I find that the ice cream tastes best with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to cut down on the tartness.