I’ve been very lucky these past two weeks. I was given a ridiculous amount of pears last week and my dad was given a whole bag full of mangoes. The pears were delightful – they’re so versatile and perfectly ripe right now.
Commandeering my dad’s mango bag, however, was an entirely different kind of wonderful. Mangoes are Summer, Christmas and deliciousness bundled into a little oval shape present. They’re sweet and messy and dripping with gorgeous nectar.
I’m not usually allowed to experiment with cooking mangoes because people want to eat them (greedy, right?!) and they don’t often last more than 48 hours in this house. Having the bag of them allowed me a little freedom.
Tasty, tasty freedom.
Mangoes need very little improvement, so I didn’t want to tinker with them too much. I just added sugar (a classic Baking with Gab move), macadamias and ice cream. This is like a home-made version of those moreish Weis bars.
Caramelising the mangoes intensifies the flavours because the mango flavour seeps into the brown sugar and the mango flesh becomes slightly mushier. This is a perfect dessert
Mango macadamia icecream topping
- ¼ cup macadamias, roughly chopped
- 1 mango
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 4 scoops ice cream
Place a non-stick frying pan over a high heat to warm up. Plop your macadamias straight into the pan and stir for five minutes so that they start to brown. While the macadamias are roasting, slice the cheeks off the mango and away from the seed, then cube the flesh and discard the skin.
Keep stirring the macadamias as you’re cutting the mango, you don’t want the macadamias to burn.
When the macadamias are browned, remove them from the pan and wipe it out. Return the pan to the heat and cover the cooking surface with a piece of baking paper. Measure out the brown sugar onto a dinner plate and pour the pieces of mango onto the sugar. Toss to give them a good, coating.
Pour the entire contents of the dinner plate onto the baking paper in the frying pan and let them cook for 5-8 minutes. Turn the mango pieces with tongs occasionally and give the caramelising sugar a stir so it doesn’t bubble up too much.
Take the gorgeous, golden mixture off the heat, quickly serve up four scoops of ice cream and scoop the mango over the top. Toss a few macadamias over the top and serve before the ice cream is completely melted.
This dessert is super easy and it’s so delicious that guests won’t believe how easy it is to throw together. You only need one pan and 12 minutes to whip this dessert up…and the baking paper means that you don’t even need to scrub the frying pan!
On a slightly funny mango-related note, the big mango which usually lives in Bowen, North Queensland has been stolen. Hopefully it’s returned, uneaten soon!
Summer ended this weekend. How dramatic does that sound? Even though everyone was heralding the end, both days were really hot. Hot enough that I decided to make my own ice cream, without an ice cream machine!
