Matcha Avocado Ice Cream

I'm working with high school students this semester, and on Mondays we have great chats about our weekends. I always feel like a boring, lame adult because every time they're like, "What did you do this weekend?" I'm like, "Oh, I did a lot of cooking, and only a little bit of cleaning." Welcome to my life.

I was excited last Monday because I felt like it sounded a lot cooler to say I made ice cream. Cooler both literally and figuratively, I suppose.

Of course, they wanted to know what flavor, and I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces when they found out I put avocado in my ice cream. They didn't know what matcha was, and that part kind of flew under the radar--everyone was really stuck on the avocado.

You know what, though? It's not weird at all. I knew I wanted to make a matcha ice cream (because matcha in all the things feels like spring to me), and I decided to throw in an avocado because green tea and avocado are spring-green-colored soul sisters. The finished product doesn't taste like avocado, but has an added richness and health boost thanks to that sneaky addition.

Also, in case you're wondering, the avocado does NOT make this ice cream turn brown--I added a little lime juice to prevent that, and after three days the ice cream was still the same creamy jade hue. The taste is rich, sweet green tea with a hint of something extra, alongside some floral undertones from the honey.

Because of my coconut allergy, I used real dairy in this ice cream, but for a paleo version, coconut milk will work wonderfully. And, it may sound strange, but this ice cream is extra fabulous with some chocolate chips on top. Just trust me and try it!

Matcha Avocado Ice Cream
Yield: About 1 quart (6-8 servings)
Prep time: 5 minutes, plus 4 hours cooling and freezing time
Cook time: None

Ingredients:

1 large, ripe Haas avocado
1 tablespoon lime juice
Pinch of sea salt
2 teaspoons matcha
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 cups whole milk or light coconut milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw sugar or coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until very smooth. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions (I have this Cuisinart ice cream maker and love it). Serve right away soft-serve style, or transfer to a container and freeze for at least 2 hours for scoopable ice cream.

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