Unicorn food has become the rage! The first Unicorn toast that I saw was from Adeleine from the Instagram account @vibrantandpure, and it was so pretty with all the colors! She had made it with cream cheese, and different natural dyes to get the different colors. I have seen absolutely cute unicorn macarons, which I wish I had the skills to make! They are so darn adorable! Then there are the unicorn doughnuts, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream too with food dyes. My daughter got this very cute unicorn soft toy. It is a baby unicorn and it is super adorable! The unicorn goes everywhere with her, and her name is Fantasia! Isnt that the cutest?! She asked me to make unicorn ice cream seeing all the unicorn inspiration on YouTube, so I decided to oblige her request to make a natural unicorn ice cream for the kids!
Now the yellow, pink and purple colors are super easy to make using fresh summer fruit! I used mangoes, nectarine and ginger pureed to make a yellow sauce. Strawberries, raspberries and beet powder made the pink sauce, and blackberries, few blueberries, lavender made the purple sauce. I cooked down both the sets of berries to make a jammy sauce and pureed it for a wonderful smooth texture and taste. There are NO blue fruits unfortunately and I used blue food dye for the blue portion of the ice cream. I found out that you can use blue spirulina , or blue pea powder or blue matcha if you want to go ALL natural, but then I used sprinkles too which are NOT natural so I figured it’s ok if one part out of 4 parts of the ice cream used blue food dye.
I use an ice cream base, the recipe which I have adapted from Cook’s Illustrated given to me by my dear friend LaRae, who has been my long time Instagram buddy! We have shared treats with each other over snail mail and it has been an absolute pleasure to know her and I wish I can get to meet her someday! She lives up in Portland and shares some of her favorite places on her Instagram along with her effortless cooking and baking which are always fun to follow! 🙂 She teaches a lot of different techniques on her Instagram and is also the canning editor @thefeedfeed ! I have used this recipe to make so many different kind of ice creams cause you can always play around with the flavors to create unique ones that are not available in the store!
I divided the ice cream base into 4 bowls. I added each of the 3 purees to 3 bowls of the ice cream base, and added the blue food dye to the fourth bowl. I churned each layer one after the other for about 7-10 minutes, removing each layer into a loaf pan, and storing it in the deep freezer, while the next layer churns away. After the final layer is churned, I put it into the loaf pan and swirled it slightly to mix all the 4 different pastel colors. Let it set in the fridge for atleast a couple of hours before getting your hands into it! Remove the loaf pan 15 minutes before you plan to scoop the ice cream. The 4 pastel colors turned out simply beautiful, and when you take a bite into a proper scoop, you can get all the flavors in one bite, and its literally tasting summer in a bite! Complete bliss! 🙂 I am so happy with this medley of an ice cream, and I hope to make it again this summer! My kids were thrilled with this concoction, especially with the pretty sprinkles, it is a treat for the taste buds and the eyes!
If you do make this ice cream, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment below on this blog post! You will NOT be disappointed! 🙂
In other news, I am happy that we have longer days. School is ending soon, my daughter has a camping trip coming up with families as well and all the kids are so excited since they will get to hang out in the outdoors, in nature! It will be so much fun to see all the second graders chitter chatter, and the siblings playing too! I cannot believe another year has ended and my kids have grown a few centimeters taller! They are growing way too fast for my liking! My little one still has issues pronouncing certain words and I have no desire to correct him, cause it sounds so cute! 🙂
In market news, the farmer’s market is beaming with a ton of fruit! My eyes pop out every time I visit the market now! I pick up soooo many pounds of fruit every weekend, and my daughter wants to eat her way through all the fruit! They are like candy! Literally! Jamming started in full swing, and am re-filling the Etsy store again.
Have a wonderful summer my friends, I hope to come up with some fun recipes this summer!
Much love!
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
- Ice Cream Base:
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup local honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 4 large egg yolks
- For the fruit purees:
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 ½ cup blackberries
- ½ cup blueberries
- 2 tbsp beet powder OR 2 tbsp dried hibiscus powder
- 1 tsp dried lavender
- 1 mango cut into cubes
- 1 nectarine cut into cubes
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¾ cup sugar
- Blue food dye
Instructions
- Makes 1 ½ quart(Ice cream recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)
- Set a strainer over a medium bowl set in a larger bowl containing ice and 2 cups water. Heat the milk, cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and honey and dried rose petals in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, , until steam appears and the milk is warm (about 175 degrees), about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl until combined and pale yellow, whisk it vigorously. Whisk half the warm milk mixture into the beaten yolks, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Whisk the milk-yolk mixture into the warm milk in the saucepan; set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until steam appears, foam subsides, and the mixture is slightly thickened or an instant-read thermometer registers 180 to 185 degrees. (Do not boil the mixture, or the eggs will curdle.) Immediately strain the custard into the bowl set in the ice bath; cool the custard to room temperature, stirring it occasionally to help it cool. Once cooled, add in the vanilla extract and stir. Cover and refrigerate for atleast 3 hours or up to 24 hours.
- In the meanwhile, in a small saucepan, add in the strawberries, raspberries, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, beet powder or hibiscus powder and let it sit for 15 minutes to macerate. Put the saucepan on slightly lower than medium heat on the stove, and stir for a minute. Start crushing the strawberries with a masher to mash them to release the juices and break down the strawberries to tiny pieces. Increase the temperature to medium-high heat. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Switch off the gas, and let it cool for 5 minutes.. Blend it in a high speed blender or a food processor to make a smooth fruit puree.
- In another small saucepan, add in the blackberries, blueberries, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, dried lavender and let it sit for 15 minutes to macerate. Put the saucepan on slightly lower than medium heat on the stove, and stir for a minute. Start crushing the strawberries with a masher to mash them to release the juices and break down the strawberries to tiny pieces. Increase the temperature to medium-high heat. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Switch off the gas, and let it cool for 5 minutes.. Blend it in a high speed blender or a food processor to make a smooth fruit puree.
- In a high speed blender or food processor, add in the mango, nectarine, remaining lemon juice, remaining sugar(1/4 cup) and grated ginger and blend to form a smooth fruit puree.
- Divide the custard into 4 bowls. Add ¾ puree of each flavor into each of the 3 bowls and whisk to combine. In the fourth bowl, add a few drops of the blue color and whisk depending upon how light or bright of a blue you like.
- Keep 3 of them cold in the fridge, and start churning one of the flavors in the ice cream maker, for about 8-10 minutes, until the mixture resembles soft serve ice cream. Remove it into a loaf pan and keep it in the freezer. Start churning the second layer again for about 8-10 minutes. Remove it into the loaf pan and keep it in the freezer. Repeat for the next 2 layers. Swirl the 4 pastel layers gently with a spatula or a spoon. Do not overmix. Cover the container, and freeze the ice cream until firm, at least 2 hours, before it is ready to scoop, sprinkle and eat!
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