This Mango Grand Marnier ice cream is a creamy, fruity, slightly citrusy treat. Candied cacao nibs add a much-needed bittersweet crunch!

This has slowly become a mango dessert appreciation blog and honestly OH WELL because summer is almost over and I’m just not ready!!!!

Making ice cream was one of my favorite things to do at the restaurant, and it was one of the first things I was allowed to do independently—meaning that I could test recipes on my own versus reproducing the chef’s recipes. I’d add more or less alcohol (usually more because the restaurant owners dined every single night and always wanted an off-menu dessert that had alcohol). I’d spin goat milk (very light and tangy). I’d combine our leftover fruit into a “mixed fruit” sorbet (it always had this slightly unsettling purple color but tasted delicious).

And although we never made tropical flavored ice creams (buying local means no tropical fruits around), I have a soft spot for them because those were the flavors I’d eat whenever I traveled. In India, it was mango kulfi. In South America, it was lúcuma or guanabana. Those ice creams always tasted amazing because the fruit was so fresh and ripe. They tasted special, because I knew that no matter how hard anyone tries, no ice cream will taste like this back home. They were part of this particular time, space, and season.

As I mentioned, awhile back I bought an enormous can of Alphonso mango puree from the Indian store. It’s of course not fresh, but it does preserve that silky sweetness of mangoes without the fibrous pulp, thus making it great for ice cream. And I happened to finally get an ice cream maker (here’s the link!), sooooooooo you know what’s about to go down.

I love all the different profiles of this mango Grand Marnier ice cream. Mango is of course, mango—nothing to argue with there. Grand Marnier is an orange liqueur and gives the ice cream citrusy, adult Orange Julius vibes. Candied cacao nibs add crunch and offset the mango’s sweetness with just enough bitterness.

Summer’s almost over, but ice cream is forever.

Recipe notes for the mango Grand Marnier ice cream:

• Milk powder helps absorb excess water from the mango, which would make the ice cream icy (in a bad way).
• Alcohol keeps ice cream from freezing solid, so it’s important to let it chill in the freezer for at least an hour to set before you eat it.
• This is a small batch recipe that makes 1.5 quarts (a small loaf pan). Double the recipe as needed.

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