Foodiva's Kitchen: Guava and Prune Mascarpone Ice Cream with Honeycomb Topping

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Guava and Prune Mascarpone Ice Cream with Honeycomb Topping


Back in the days before pop corn became a staple fare of cinema or movie-theatre goers, we enjoyed feasting on simpler snacks sold by street hawkers just outside, yes.. not inside, the cinemas. Snacks such as steaming hot chick peas (garbanzo) and sweet corn kernels, skewered Chinese/Asian pears pickled in brine, and sliced guavas sprinkled generously with dried prune powder. These street snacks still exist today, of course, but they are no longer consumed within the walls of a cinema. More likely, we'll buy them at the night market and snack all the way home, or else have the crisp fruits while strolling back to the office after lunch on a hot day.

Before I go on further, I just wanted to mention that I finally got myself an ice cream machine while on a short trip abroad. I lugged the heavy thing in my suitcase and prayed that it would not break and oh yes, for sunny skies too (it's been raining buckets here lately). Even though sniffles, coughs and sore throats still exist in parts of the house, I foresee many smiley, ice cream days ahead :-).



For my first ice cream adventure with the coveted machine, I wanted to recreate the flavors of one of our street snacks, guava dipped in prune powder. I didn't want to mess around with a custard base, so I settled for mascarpone to hold the flavors together and the mascarpone somehow made the texture of the ice cream that much better. Because fresh guava is so crisp, I had to cook it first to soften the flesh, otherwise it would just turn into rock-hard guava pieces likely to break your tooth once frozen. I blended most of the cooked guava to make the ice cream, but reserved some to add into the semi frozen mixture (right after churning) to retain some of that fruitiness.

The salty-sweet prune powder complemented and enhanced the guava ice cream well. To round off the dessert, I decided to make honeycomb shards for a topping and flavored this with prune powder. It was fun and ultra easy to make... all that whooshing, bubbling up reminded me of my days in the lab when things got really exciting, or out-of-hand, or both. LOL. Naturally, most kids love all this honeycomb stuff (remember Crunchie?) but just don't overdo it or the dentist will come after you with a massive drill!


Honeycomb shards


 

To my friends KJ and Layloo, both new moms and guava and prune powder addicts, this recipe is totally for you!

Guava and Prune Mascarpone Ice Cream with Honeycomb Topping
Makes: 3/4 litre
Ingredients:
250g fresh guava, peeled, cored and sliced into tiny chunks
50g sweetened prune powder
50g caster sugar
1/4 cup water
200ml milk
200ml mascarpone

Method:
1. Place guava chunks, prune powder, sugar and water in a deep pan and let it boil on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly until the guava turns soft and slightly mushy (similar to the texture of cooked apples). With a slotted spoon, scoop out 1/3 cup of cooked guava and set aside. You can chop these finer if you wish, as they will be incorporated later into the soft ice cream.
2. Add milk to the remaining mixture in the pan, let it cool slightly then blend in a food processor or blender until smooth.
3. Pour blended mixture into a bowl and whisk in the mascarpone until just combined. Pour into an ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.
4. Stir the reserved guava above back into the soft frozen mixture before placing it in an airtight container. Leave in the freezer to freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve with prune honeycomb topping sprinkled on top.

Prune Honeycomb Topping
Makes: 125g
Ingredients:
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon prune powder
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Method:
1. Put the sugar, prune powder and golden syrup into a deep cooking pan and stir to mix.
2. Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture melt, then turn into to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup - about 3 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and the syrup will bubble up instantly into a big, fine cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil.
4. Leave it to set at room temperature and then bash it with a meat beater or something solid, so that it splinters into many pieces. Sprinkle on top of ice creams or cakes and store the rest in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

20 comments:

lena said...

hi, i must say that this flavour is really special on its kind. Just the name itself is already so tempting. over here, we often eat fresh guava with the 'asam' powder which is i think 'sour plum' powder and i think the prune powder taste just as great! nice pictures!

Rochelle said...

Wow that looks good! It's not even above freezing here, but I want a bowl of this :)

Love the honeycomb on top, I've never had it but it looks nice and crunchy :)

Sandra said...

I feel like I am in heaven looking at your photos..look amazing and sounds like I could enjoy it very much! Thanks for sharing Maya!!!

Unknown said...

Lena, I think the asam powder is actually the same as prune powder because dried plums are really prunes, aren't they? Anyway, the name is just a technicality, what's important is that this combination works brilliantly!

Unknown said...

Rochelle, a tropical-flavored ice cream for an icy day...what could be better than that? LOL.

Unknown said...

Sandra, you're an angel. You'll be in heaven when you taste this ;-).

adorasbox said...

I can relate to your post, although indirectly. My husband, who's from Malaysia tells me such stories. He still has a jar of prune powder languishing in the cupboards, so now all I need is to find guavas.

Unknown said...

I love guava. It's in my top 5 favourite fruit I think. I never had guava ice cream before but I just know that it's delicious, especially one that you made :)
I am very intrigued with the prune powder. Love crunchie too.
Have a wonderful day.

Unknown said...

I love love this recipe. The honeycomb topping is genius.

Evelyne@CheapEthnicEatz said...

Wow what a flavor combination, the mascarpone is genius have to try that. Prune powder I have never heard of but sounds very intriguing!

Magic of Spice said...

Absolutely delightful flavors...I adore guava and prune both. And I am loving the idea of mascarpone used here. I want an ice cream maker :)

Nancy said...

How I've missed your post Maya, so glad to have you back. I love Guava, grew up eating it in Mexico. So I can just imagine how tasty your ice cream was, it looks fantastics. The crunchy honeycomb topping looks like the perfect addition. I bet you are dreaming up all sorts of wonderful ice cream combinations :)

Biren @ Roti n Rice said...

I love guava and prune powder too. Unfortunately can't get guava where I live. This sounds like such and interesting and tasty ice cream! Glad to hear you finally got your ice cream maker :)

Unknown said...

Nancy, you're right. I have so many NASTY ice cream ideas! LOL.

Unknown said...

Adora, Michael,Joy, Evelyne, Alisha and Biren,so glad to know there are guava lovers all over the world! Hopefully when it's in season, you can buy them where you are and try out this ice cream recipe.

Torviewtoronto said...

i like all the flavours you have used looks delicious

Unknown said...

Thank you for stopping by, Akheela!

penny aka jeroxie said...

My tummy started growling as I was reading this. No joke!

Anonymous said...

I definitely love my prunes, where do you get yours imported from?

Conor @ Hold the Beef said...

Loving the look and sound of this - very different flavours to your standard old ones you expect with ice cream, it has very much piqued my curiosity! Especially prune powder.. will definitely be keeping my eyes open for that now!

Related Posts with Thumbnails