Two-Ingredient Mango Soft Serve + Strawberry Granita

Two thrilling frozen recipes that require NO FANCY EQUIPMENT WHATSOEVER

Hi friends,

Since peak summer is upon us, we wanted to share a couple of recipes for truly thrilling frozen sweet treats that will satisfy your kids’ medical need for ice cream, but are not loaded with the dyes, artificial flavors, and an array of sweeteners that will turn them into unhinged demons. The ingredients are simple, no special equipment is required, and HOT DAMN, are they delicious! We give you: Two-Ingredient Mango Soft Serve and a fruit-sweetened Strawberry Granita.

We used to think that the only way to achieve silky soft serve ice cream texture at home was to… get soft serve at an ice cream shop and bring it home. But no! This genius method for no-added-sweetener, smooth and sweet mango soft serve was brought into our lives by Cub Street Diet author Heather Sperling and we have not looked back.

We’ve also riffed on the beloved granita genre (basically Italian shaved ice, for the uninitiated): icy, fruity, slushies you eat with a spoon. In this case, the equipment and technique doesn’t get more complicated than a spoon or a fork and some patience. And you can’t argue you that.

Stay cool and have a happy 4th,

Greta + Fanny

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This recipe yields such a ridiculously delicious silky frozen delight that it’s actually possible to tell your kids that it’s “real ice cream” with a straight face. The best result will come from buying really lovely ripe mangoes, peeling them and freezing their flesh in cubes, but the good thing is: pre-packaged frozen mango is great too (if it’s not particularly sweet, though, you might consider adding a bit of frozen ripe banana too or a splash of agave syrup).

The Stats

• Total time: 5 mins

• Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 4 cups frozen mango chunks

• 2 ½ cups organic whole milk (make it vegan with additive-free coconut milk)

The Method

1. Let the frozen mango thaw for about five minutes (this will make the texture slightly smoother).

2. Add the frozen mango and milk to a large food processor or high-speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy (this may require stopping and mixing a bit along the way).

3. Serve promptly!

Try your hand at an at-home granita with any peak season fruit—we used strawberries, but super ripe melons and sweet stone fruit (and even a mix of the two) are showstoppers, too.

The Stats

• Active time: 10 minutes

• Total time: 2ish hours

• Yields ~6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh hulled strawberries

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup sweet (but unsweetened!) applesauce

• The juice from ½ lemon

The Method

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth and combined. Pour into a quarter sheet pan (9 x 13”) and place in the freezer.

2. Every thirty minutes, use a spoon or fork to scrape up the frozen bits along the edge of the pan and move them into the center (thereby filling the edges with unfrozen mixture). Repeat this step every half hour until the whole pan is frozen. 

3. Once it’s all frozen, break it up with a fork into bite-sized chunks put it back in the freezer for a few minutes.

4. Spoon into bowls and enjoy!