This delectable Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream scratches all your sinful itches. It’s creamy, crunchy, salty, and sweet with a hint of banana mango flavor from exotic pawpaw fruit.
This delectable Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream scratches all your sinful itches. It’s creamy, crunchy, salty, and sweet with a hint of banana mango flavor from exotic pawpaw fruit.Cashew praline crunch is a perfect counterpoint to this ultra-creamy Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream. It’s a recipe that, despite its caloric nature, is one you can still feel pretty good about because obtaining the key ingredient usually involves a hike through the woods.
Hi all! Kevin is taking the blog reins today with a little story. I’ll catch up with you a bit later in the post. Thanks for reading!
-Kitty
Now, you need to know something about Kitty. She LOVES food. She LOVES creativity. She LOVES mixing those two things together just like this recipe shows. But she HATES anything resembling a banana in flavor (as pawpaw does) and so, dear reader, I am here to offer the opinion and description of this DELICIOUS Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream, and to tell you a little story.
Who doesn’t love food with a story behind it?
No one I want to know, that’s who.
Kitty and I were recently making use of a beautiful late summer evening and decided that we really needed to get outside and take a hike. We needed to work off some of the calories that testing Vintage Kitty’s recipes adds to our lives. The fact that it was a gorgeous day right around sunset only made it better.
As we were walking along a path in Antietam National Battlefield next to a burbling stream, I noticed a piece fruit on the ground. I recognized it from last year when Kitty and I bought pawpaws from a farm market to make pawpaw smoothies, and thought “SCORE! Free ingredients for Kitty!”
I called out to her (she was lagging behind, snapping photos of the view), “Kitty! Pawpaws!!”
She looked up from her iPhone with a gleam in her eye that I only see when she finds a rare or hyper local or vintage-y ingredient…this hit all three of those buttons.
After she verified that I had indeed located a trove of pawpaws, she began inspecting them and picking up the best ones as we walked. I swear she walked 2 miles with 5 lbs of pawpaws carried in her t-shirt (check out her Instagram feed for the shot, its worth a look).
I don’t think we’ll go hiking without a backpack again. And so my friends learn a lesson from us. If you’re out hiking, bring a bag along, you’ll never know what you’ll find along the way.
Now on to the fruits of our labor.
Kitty and I were driving back from our hike turned foraging expedition and were bouncing ideas around on how we could use pawpaws in a new and different way from last year. It didn’t take long for Kitty to jump to ice cream so she could try out her new Cuisinart ice cream maker. It really is a perfect idea, pawpaws are really soft and creamy in texture naturally so it’s a great way to add a light banana mango flavor to an ice cream without compromising the texture.
Now, I know that Kitty worked in the Cashew Pralines and Caramel into this recipe because they are some of her favorite flavors (totally check out her salted caramel blondies and caramel marshmallows!) and they work so well with the taste of the pawpaw. The salty caramel really gives the ice cream extra richness. And the cashew praline crunch is a perfect counterpoint to this ultra-creamy ice cream. She had to shoo me away from the kitchen after she asked me to taste test this Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream, because I’d have made myself a bowl and eaten it all right then and there.
I hope your self-control is stronger than mine or you’ll never get this Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream with Cashew Praline Crunch to the table.
Hey guys, this is Charity, again. As Kevin said, I’m NOT a banana fan. What I discovered this year is that wild pawpaws seem to be more banana-y that the cultivated varieties we tried last year. So by the time we got done scooping out the flesh, I knew from the smell, I didn’t want to eat them.
But using my culinary knowledge and lots of perserverance, I made this Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream recipe. I’d love to tell you it’s the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. But to someone who hates the taste of bananas, it just tasted like caramel yuck to me. I will say that I did nibble at the praline some, and that wasn’t as revolting.
So what I’m trying to say is, if you hate bananas, don’t bother foraging for pawpaws. But if you love bananas…you really need to go on a hike to find some so you can make this Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream recipe.
Salted Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
Cashew Praline Crunch
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup pawpaw mashed
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup cashews toasted coarsely chopped
Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream
- ⅔ cups white sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 5 egg yolks
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pureed pawpaw
Instructions
Cashew Praline Crunch
- Combine the pawpaw and sugar in a medium sized stainless steel saute pan.
- Over medium heat, cook the mixture, stirring until the sugar dissolves (about 2-3 minutes)
- Once the sugar has dissolved, stir less frequently, but continue to watch for the sugar and pawpaws to caramelize to a dark amber color.
- Pull off the heat and stir in the salt and cashews.
- Quickly transfer the praline to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place praline in the freezer.
Caramel Pawpaw Ice Cream
- In a 3 quart sauce pan combine water and sugar over medium heat.
- Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.
- Once the sugar has melted stop stirring and instead swirl the pan carefully to keep the sugar from caramelizing unevenly.
- The sugar can go from clear to burnt very quickly, so watch carefully and turn off the heat just as the color turns to a deep golden amber.
- Slowly, stream in the cream while whisking, being careful to not splatter the molten sugar too much.
- Turn the burner back on to medium and heat the cream to 160F.
- Temper the egg yolks by stirring in about a half cup of liquid to them and then add the egg mixture back to the pan.
- Cook until the custard reached 165F, whisking constantly.
- Remove from heat and add salt, vanilla and pawpaw puree.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Strain custard through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl over an ice bath.
- Refrigerate custard until cold.
- Once custard is cold, freeze it in an electric ice cream maker, following manufacturer's instructions.
- Once the custard has set in the ice cream maker, add the frozen praline. Transfer to an airtight contain and place in the freezer to harden.
Nutrition
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I shared this recipe on the following linkups. Come join the fun!
Ann says
I totally believe you when you say this is the best ice-cream you ever tasted simply because it looks so. Do excuse my ignorance for I only have one question – what is paw paw? #FiestaFriday
Vintage Kitty says
Great question Ann. Read this post Creamy Vegan Pawpaw Smoothie for more info, but the short answer is a soft, green fruit that ripens, bruises and tastes similar to a banana but it related to fruits like cherimoya, soursop and custard apple. It also tastes slightly like mango.
Loretta says
Wow and wow! I couldn’t stop admiring this unusual and tempting ice cream with the fruit and the cashew praline crunch. Love my ice cream with some crunch. Do you have a picture of your paw paw on your iPhone? I grew up in Kenya and we often referred to papaya as pawpaw. A tropical fruit with a ton of black seeds inside, I’m wondering if this might be the same? Much like custard apple which I’ve yet to see in the USA. Thanks for bringing this gorgeous ice cream to Fiesta Friday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)
Vintage Kitty says
Check out the Creamy Vegan Pawpaw Smoothie for more photos of pawpaws. And yes papaya can be called pawpaws, but they are very different fruits.
Ala says
Ermigosh–I’m not the biggest fan of bananas BUT I’d conquer just about anything to have a taste of this ice cream right now. I hadn’t even heard of pawpaws until I read your post! Thanks a billion and one times over for sharing–oh, and *love* your blog! ;)
Angie | Fiesta Friday says
You’re kidding, right?! You found pawpaws just like that!! Do you know I actually have 2 pawpaw plants?! Except they’re both the same varieties, duh! I found out you need 2 different kinds for proper pollination. Then again, I’ve never even seen a flower on any of them. How I wish I could taste a pawpaw, let alone a pawpaw ice cream. Btw, I love that word pawpaw ???????? #fiestafriday
Vintage Kitty says
They are super hard to pollinate. I will say that I’ve seen lots of trees and no where have I seen as many fruit as I saw in Antietam. Guessing that the perfect conditions were present. But the trees were also very mature, so maybe it takes a while? But it’s super cool you know what a pawpaw is!!!!! Welcome to the food geek club ;-)
Margie says
The instructions do not explain how to mix the praline into the ice cream. I assume you pack the ice cream with broken up praline after it’s frozen in the ice cream maker.
Pawpaws are a big treat. It’s hard to imagine substituting anything for them because the flavor and texture is so unique.
Vintage Kitty says
Yes, Margie, you are correct. I’ll update the recipe. We haven’t tried any substitutions, but pawpaw to me tastes like 75% banana and 25% mango, so I think that a puree of the the same ratio of banana and mango would work in this recipe. I also think that for banana lovers, just banana would be good. Certainly in consistency, a banana would be very similar.
Kristen B says
WOW! I was so excited to harvest some paw paws from our property, and even more so to find an ice cream recipe that featured them. I was afraid at first that I chopped the cashews too chunky – the creaminess and flavor of the ice cream was so good, but it was a little jarring to crunch on the cashews. However… a little time in the freezer softened the cashews and the ice cream is amazing! The subtle creaminess and flavor of the paw paw goes perfectly with the texture, caramel-saltiness of the cashews. Can’t wait to make it again.
Vintage Kitty says
That’s awesome Kristen! You’re lucky to have pawpaws on your property. Enjoy!
Reagan says
Hey, got a question: could I use maple syrup instead of sugar for the caramel part? I recently made 24 cups worth of maple syrup & would like to use that to make the ice cream. I just hope it wouldn’t ruin the flavor.
Vintage Kitty says
I’m not sure. I can tell you that honey does not caramelize the same as sugar and has a tendency to burn. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes.
Denise says
I made this a couple days ago, to all thumbs up in my household. Yeah! It has already been requested again! I keep paw paw pulp in the freezer, at the ready all year.
Caution: the vanilla amount listed 1 Tbsp, which must be wrong. I used 1 tsp, and next time will cut that in half. Otherwise, the paw paw flavor would disappear completely.
The praline tastes nice on its own!
Another caution: for the ice cream, when I cooked the 2Tbsp water with 2/3 C sugar, it went thru some odd states. It didn’t quite melt as I was expecting, instead it became like cauliflower bits, dry & crunchy. I stirred, though, and after a while, it did melt into a liquidy state but not at all amber colored. More time than I expected, and finally got some color, but I was careful to not go too far. When the cream goes in, it splatters no matter how careful you are – glad my pan has high sides.
Do not skip straining! With this ice cream method, and with paw paws, it really is wise to strain. I’ve made a couple other paw paw ice creams, one was not strained and it had the chunkiness, like a banana. But, that said, once the praline is added during the churning, it all gets a gritty texture, because the praline is a few big bits but a lot of dusty-like bits. (So maybe straining is not strictly required if the eggs haven’t curdled in the process. No one wants scrambled egg ice cream!)