Watermelon Soft Serve Recipe (Dominique Ansel’s What-A-Melon)

Method

• 1)

  Cut out 6 triangular thick slices of watermelon from the center of the watermelon, they should be about 2.5 inches thick. Cut out 1 inch of the center of the the slices so it’s hollowed out for the soft serve (see the photos above for reference), reserve the center watermelon pieces for juicing. Wrap the watermelon slices in plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator until your’e ready to serve. Cut up the rest of the watermelon into cubes, discard the rinds and remove any black seeds.

• 2)

  Place the watermelon cubes into a blender, blend on medium speed just until the watermelon is broken down – this only took about 30 seconds for each batch in my Vitamix. Pour into a large mesh strainer and press out any juice from the pulp, then discard the pulp. Repeat this step until you juice all the watermelon pieces – you’ll need 5½ Cups Watermelon Juice for the soft serve.

  *If you have a juicer, you can juice the watermelon instead of using a blender.

• 3)

  In a bowl, add ¾ Cup Sugar, 2 Teaspoons Sorbet Stabilizer, ½ Teaspoon Guar Gum and stir well with a whisk to combine. Add 1 Cup of the Watermelon Juice into a sauce pan along with the sugar mixture, use medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and it starts to gel, let it cool for 10 minutes, add 4½ Cups of Watermelon Juice, ¼ Cup Lime Juice and stir well (I didn’t add any coloring, but you can add a few drops of red food gel if you want a more vibrant color) cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours before making soft serve.

• 4)

  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Melt ¼ Cup Dark or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, place into a piping bag or ziplock bag. Snip the very tip of the bag and pipe little chocolate dots, about the size of a standard chocolate chip. Use an icing needle or skewer to shape the dots into the shape of a watermelon seed. Place into the fridge until ready to use.

• 5)

  Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers’ instructions – it usually takes around 25 minutes, but timing will differ depending on your ice cream maker. Once it starts looking like soft serve, stop the machine and place it into a large piping bag fitted with a large open star tip and freeze for about 1 hour, you want it to get firmer in the freezer, but it should still be pipeable.

  *If you let the machine run too long, it incorporates too much air and will turn very icy, similar to Italian Ice.

• 6)

  Make small slits in the watermelon slices where you want to place the chocolate seeds then add the chocolate seeds. Pipe the watermelon soft serve into the center of the watermelon slices, eat these hand-held right down to the rind. Enjoy!

  * Watch my short Instagram recipe-video here