Passion Fruit Ice Cream (Dairy-free... or not!)

"This was the best ice cream you ever made"!
That was the husband's comment about this ice cream, so I knew I just needed to come to the blog and share the recipe!
Passion fruit is a fruit we love here at home, and one that we can't have enough when we go to Brazil. Matheus is always the first one to ask for passion fruit juice or to eat the fruit pulp right inside the shell with me (my favorite way of having this fruit!) when we go visit the family.
This is a fruit that is sweet and tart at the same time, maybe even more tart than sweet, but still, the floral notes from the passion fruit pulp and its crunchy seeds makes for an explosion of flavors and sensation in the mouth.
Passion fruit is also very refreshing when made into a cold juice, and the same happened when I made the ice cream. It was amazing how refreshing and delicious this ice cream was, the most perfect treat on a hot summer day!
We loved it, and more than that, I made it dairy free which enabled Matheus to enjoy as much as he wanted without us worrying about the dairy.
I adapted a regular recipe, but feel free to use cream in place of the soy creamer, I am sure it will be equally delicious! (if not even better!) By the way, the flavor of the soy creamer on this one was completely gone, we could not detect any soy taste at all, the passion fruit was the absolute star on this ice cream, which made it even more delightful for us.
Anything that brings us back flavors from home gets big thumbs up around here, and it wasn't any different with this recipe.
If you like passion fruit most certainly give this recipe a try, it is totally worth it!
Ana

Notes:
I bought passion fruit pulp at the frozen section of a Mexican store. All I did was to defrost it and measure the 1 cup of pulp needed. Enjoy!
I am not a fan of using the soy creamer as it is a processed food. Plus I much prefer to use real local cream for its flavor, taste and texture. However, due to Matheus' issues with dairy sometimes I do experiment with dairy free versions of his favorite treats and this was one of them. It was an extremely successful recipe though, I could not have been more pleased. We were all happy and all was right with the world as we sat down together enjoying our ice cream!

Passion Fruit Ice Cream
(Adapted from epicurious.com)

2 cups soy creamer (or heavy cream)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup passion fruit pulp

In a bowl whisk together sugar and eggs. Put the soy creamer (or heavy cream) in a saucepan and heat over medium/high heat just until it gets closer to boil, when little bubbles start to form around the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and slowly pour the hot creamer over the eggs whisking the whole time - this will temper the eggs so it doesn't scramble.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it thickens slightly (about 160F), don't let it boil.
Pour the custard through a sieve in a clean bowl and let cool to room temperature. Stir in the passion fruit pulp, cover and refrigerate until completely cold.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker. It will come out like soft serve, so transfer to an airtight container and freeze until hard.