Mango Cream | www.oliviascuisine.com

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot on how to make my life easier. Like cleaning the apartment. Sometimes Tim and I will spend a whole day cleaning and after 2 or 3 days the place is a mess again. So we tried doing a Power Point chart with days of the week and the tasks that are supposed to be accomplished. Needless to say that chart is usually completely ignored and we still haven’t mastered the art of organization! You know you’ve been living in an uncontrolled mess when you celebrate finding two socks of the same pair! (Lately, two socks of the same color make my heart beat faster!)
 
It also comes to my mind Thanksgiving day, last year. I decided to host dinner at our apartment and cook everything by myself. From scratch! Even the rolls I made from scratch, because – as I told you before- I’m a perfectionist. So needless to say that day was hell! Even the day before was hell. Tim and I had tickets to see Richard III on Broadway (that we bought before we knew we would be hosting Thanksgiving the day after) and throughout the whole play all I could think about was recipes and the order I had to make them to make everything work smoothly. Also, the apartment was – as usual – a mess, and we had to spend most of the night cleaning it, because I refuse to have guests anywhere but in a spotless apartment. Dinner was absolutely delicious! At least according to my guests, because I was so stressed out that I could barely eat.
 
So now one of my quests in life is not only to become a more organized person, but to look for ways to minimize the work I have to do, without compromising the quality. One of my latest decisions is: if I’m serving an elaborate meal, I’ll make an easy dessert. But the tricky part is: it has to taste as if it’s very elaborate! :)
 
One of the easiest desserts I have on my sleeve is Mango Cream. God, how I love Mango Cream. I wish I could dive into a pool of Mango Cream. It is sweet, it is a bit tart/sour, it is creamy, it is heaven in a spoon! And it is as easy as putting 3 ingredients in a blender. Seriously.. how much easier could it get?

Mango Cream | www.oliviascuisine.com

I love mangoes! I haven’t really put much thought into “what’s my favorite fruit”, but I think Mango is a strong candidate. One thing I have to say, though, is that mango in Brazil is a thousand and two times better than here in the States. :( Sorry, American friends! And I even tried searching for the mango that I like (the one that is orange, really sweet and soft inside and green and red on the outside) to no success! If you disagree, and you know how to find that type of mango (it’s called Palmer!) in NYC, please let me know and you’ll make me the happiest gal in the whole world! :) Somehow, I can only find the one that is sour, yellow and not so sweet. And because of that, I had to slightly modify my recipe so it tastes similar to the Mango Cream I had growing up.

What I did was add a few tablespoons of Sweet Condensed Milk to compensate for the fact that the mangoes are not as sweet. So, if you manage to find the Palmer Mango, skip this and just blend the mangoes and the ice cream together! :) You can also serve it with some Cassis Liqueur. Just pour a little over your Mango Cream! Not too much otherwise it will taste like Cassis Cream with a touch of Mango! ;-)

Mango Cream | www.oliviascuisine.com

Mango Cream

Yield: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Mangoes (ripe), peeled and cubed
  • 2 cups of vanilla ice cream
  • 4 Tbsp of sweet condensed milk (optional)
  • Cassis liqueur (optional)

Instructions

  • Using a blender, blend all the ingredients (except the liqueur) until you obtain a creamy mixture.
  • Pour into individual dessert cups and bring them to the freezer for around 20 minutes.
  • If you want, pour a dash or two of Cassis liqueur on the Mango Cream before serving. Or just serve with the liqueur on the side so your guests can pour themselves!
  • Notes

    For a healthier version, substitute the vanilla ice cream for frozen yogurt!