Hot on the heels of my last post for Perfect Gluten-Free Choux Puffs, I now give you this most essential follow-up recipe: Profiteroles with Lilac-Vanilla Lemon Curd Ripple Ice Cream.  Basically, the most refreshing, tart and creamy dessert perfect for the summer months ahead.   

The dairy-free vanilla ice cream base is first gently infused with the scent of lilacs.  Emphasis on gently because I promise I'm not trying to make you eat potpourri.  Then it is swirled with ripples of tangy sweet lemon curd.  My family is straight up addicted to this most sublime flavor combination!  Speaking of addiction, I am sort of obsessed with lilacs - both their beauty and hauntingly sweet scent. This becomes very evident on my Instagram feed around this time every year #lilacspam #sorrynotsorry! 

That said, lilacs only bloom for a fleeting two to three weeks in Spring so I understand it's not always possible to have on hand for this.  No problem!  Just skip the first step of steeping the blooms in the coconut milk.  This ice cream without the lilac-infusion is amazing and definitely holds its own.  I mean, creamy vanilla with a little pucker from home made lemon curd?  It is a perfectly balanced match of creamy and tang. 

By the way, I encourage you to make the lemon curd at home rather than purchase it. It is way easier than you think and my recipe uses honey instead of refined sugar.  You can make it a dairy free curd by using coconut oil or even ghee (butter with the milk solids rendered out) in place of butter.  I've done all three ways (even a combination of) and they are all excellent options.  Not only can  you control the ingredients when you make it yourself, you can make the batch up to one week in advance and store it in the fridge.  I love to front-load my work so it is a bit easier on myself. 

I've posted two other ice cream recipes on this blog before, a Honey Miso one (seriously seriously epic) and a Lavender Honey flavor that I still dream about.  But this my first time making a dairy-free ice cream and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  I must give credit to Kelly Brozyna's book "Dairy-Free Ice Cream: 75 Recipes Made without Egg, Gluten, Soy or Refined Sugar" for the base vanilla ice cream recipe.  I love that it is sweetened only with dates (but somehow without making it taste like dates because that would majorly suck) and her use of gelatin as a thickener to get that real ice cream texture.  Initially I was planning to adapt it by using agar agar instead of gelatin to keep things vegan but my health food store happened to be out of stock.  Next time I will definitely substitute agar agar and let you know how that goes - no reason it shouldn't work equally well, I say.

Do let me know what you think of this recipe and if you try it for yourself. xx

MAKE IN ADVANCE:

• Lemon Curd can be made and stored refrigerated in airtight container up to a week.

• Choux Puffs can be frozen after cooling completely, in an airtight ziptop bag. To use, heat it up directly from the freezer, in a 350f oven until crispy and warm ~10-15 minutes.

• Lilac-Vanilla Lemon Curd Ripple Ice Cream can be stored frozen in an airtight container for a month or two.

Profiteroles with Lilac-Vanilla Lemon Curd Ripple    Ice Cream

{ gluten-free, refined sugar free, ice cream is dairy-free (choux puffs are not) }

Recipe makes 26 2" gluten-free choux puffs, 1-1.5 quart of ice cream, and 1 1/3 cup lemon curd.

INGREDIENTS 

For the Gluten Free Choux Puffs (makes 26 x 2" puffs):   

See my recipe post here with all the detailed images to make the perfect gluten-free choux puffs.

For the Lemon Curd (makes ~1 1/3 cup):

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

3 tbsp honey (can substitute with pure maple syrup)

Zest of 1 lemon

1/4 C (60ml) fresh lemon juice, from about 2-3 lemons

3 tbsp organic ghee or coconut oil or butter

Pinch of sea salt

For the Lilac-Vanilla Lemon Curd Ripple Ice Cream (makes 1 to 1 1/2 Quarts):

Adapted from book Dairy-Free Ice Cream: 75 Recipes Made without Egg, Gluten, Soy or Refined Sugar.

1 (13.5 oz) can full-fat coconut milk

2 C lilac blooms, plucked from 2-3 heads (optional can be omitted if not in season)

1/2 C (about 8) soft, pitted Medjool dates

1 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk

2 tsp vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp organic gelatin powder as a thickener (optional)

1/4 C boiling water to dissolve gelatin (optional)

METHOD

For the Lemon Curd: 

Whisk the egg, egg yolk, honey, lemon zest and juice and salt in a heatproof bowl.  Set it over a double boiler (small pot with an inch of simmering water not touching the bottom of your bowl) and whisk in the ghee (or coconut oil or butter) a tablespoon at a time until melted.  Increase the heat to low and keep cooking all the while whisking until thickened and tiny bubbles surface (reaches temperature of 170f), about 5 minutes.  Strain through fine-mesh sieve and allow to cool.  Keep chilled in the fridge in a closed container up to a week or until ready to use.

For the Lilac-Vanilla Lemon Curd Ripple Ice Cream:

Place the coconut milk and lilac blooms in a small pot and bring it to a simmer.  Keep it simmering for 5 minutes then turn off heat and steep for 15 minutes.  (Skip this if not infusing with lilac)

Meanwhile, if you are using gelatin powder to thicken, slowly stir the gelatin powder into 1/4 cup boiling water until dissolved.  Don't worry too much if some small lumps remain, it will be blended into the mixture.  Omit the gelatin or try using agar agar instead to keep the ice cream vegan. 

After steeping, strain out the lilac blooms and discard. 

Pour the lilac-infused coconut milk into a blender with the Medjool dates and blend until smooth.  Add the almond milk, vanilla bean paste (or extract), the prepared gelatin mixture and blend again until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a container and freeze for 1 hour or chill in fridge until cold.  Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Based on the size of my machine, I did this in two batches. 

Put a layer of churned ice cream (half of it) on the bottom of your freezer-safe container.  Dollop spoonfuls of lemon curd all over (how much you like) and swish it around a bit.  Layer on the remaining churned ice cream and finish with more dollops of lemon curd.  (I had a bit of leftover lemon curd which we love eating with yogurt, overnight oats or other things - so delish!)

Freeze further for firmer scoops.   

For Profiterole assembly:

Using a serrated knife, cut a choux puff cross-wise about 1/3 of the way down.  Scoop the Lilac-Vanilla Lemon Curd ice cream into the puff and cover again with the lid. 

Eat. Enjoy. Repeat! xx

If you like this recipe, pin it to Pinterest!   If you try this recipe, let me know!  Or leave me a comment below to let me know what you think of this post - I would love that.  :)