Helados
Helados sweetened dessert menu
By Maya Dollarhide
Move over Baskin Robbins: Mexican ice cream is melting the hearts of dessert-loving diners. And that gives Mexican and Latin restaurants a chance to scoop up some pretty cool profits by adding helados—in myriad delicious and often unusual flavors—to their dessert menus.
At La Newyorkina, a Mexican ice cream shop with one store in Manhattan and several seasonal locations in the New York City metro area, customers line up for helados including chef-owner Fany Gerson’s signature flavors: Mexican Vanilla, Oaxacan Chocolate Chunk, Horchata and Tres Leches Cake (with add-on options such as puffed amaranth, spicy candied mangoes, pumpkin seed brittle, cajeta, chipotle hot fudge, and a cherry hibiscus compote).
Mexican Vanilla, Cream Cheese & Berry, and classic Cookies & Cream are top-selling flavors at Helados Handcrafted Ice Cream and Pops, a casual Mexican sweets and snack shop that Eva Valencia opened just over one year ago in Mansfield, Texas.
And at upscale Rosa Mexicano restaurants in nine cities—including Los Angeles, New York City, Miami Washington, D.C. and Boston—favorites include Sweet Avocado, Tomatillo Vanilla, Mango Jalapeño, and Raspberry Rose helados (the latter made with hibiscus syrup).
What are Helados?
According to Ben Diaz, executive chef for Rosa Mexicano, Los Angeles, helados—lighter, silkier, more gelato-like, and made with less dairy product that regular ice cream—are a refreshing end-of-meal option, not only in warm weather months, but throughout the year, as well.
“As opposed to regular ice cream, helados are smoother and have a complexity of flavors that are bold. Each one tells a story of where it came from and who made it,” says Diaz.
American ice cream is usually loaded with sugar, but helado—its Mexican cousin—usually contains less refined sugar, says Diaz, who typically uses an ice cream maker to craft his creamy concoctions.
“The best thing about creating helados is you never know really what to expect. Just try new flavors and see how they react to each other when they come out of the ice cream machine,” says Diaz, who has experimented with unique flavors and ingredients including sweet corn, pine nuts, avocados, all kinds of fruit, plus spices and chiles.
“Helados can be both fun and flavorful, but the biggest thing to remember is that [fruit-flavored] helados are made using fresh fruit—fresh fruit is the key, as it adds that little extra that purees miss,” he says.
While Diaz most often turns to his commercial ice cream maker to turn out Rosa Mexicano’s helados, they can be churned by hand—and many restaurants make them both ways, says Diaz.
For example, the folks at La Newyorkina make nieves de garrafa, one of the most traditional ice creams found in Mexico, in a metal cylinder (the garrafa) placed inside a wooden bucket.
“In between, layers of ice and salt surround the garrafa and the ice cream is made by hand ‘paddling.’ The ones made with dairy don’t have cream for the most part and the texture is sort of like ice milk,” lanewyorkina.com says.
Unusual Flavors, Chefs’ Favorites
With flavors limited only by a chef’s imagination (and, to some extent, availability of ingredients), the sky is the limit where helados are concerned.
Diaz’s favorite: Jalapeño and Mango, “because it is smooth and creamy with spicy undertones,” he says.
“I also love strawberries with orange and guajillo,” Diaz continues. “The guajillo really gives it a great smoky flavor without taking away from the strawberry, and the orange binds it all together.”
And then there is his Tres leches with Cajeta Swirl—another flavor he savors. “The sweetness of the tres leches lends itself to the bittersweet cajeta—it gives it an almond cake-like flavor, which is really remarkable,” he says.
Valencia’s creations—which include helados, and popsicle-like treats called paletas—are spawned from her personal tastes. “I love chiles, lime and cucumber, so those ingredients went into an ice pop,” she says. “One of my favorite ice pops is [made with] watermelon and chiles, and I love our churro milkshakes.”
At Rosa Mexicano, ice cream can be ordered on its own, or as a companion to a sophisticated dessert. The restaurant even holds annual helados festivals in the summer.
“At our upcoming festival, one of our offerings will be a guacamole sundae served in a frozen molcajete. It is avocado ice cream with raspberries, white chocolate, piloncillo-chocolate sauce, and cinnamon tortilla chips. People love it,” Diaz reports.
Menuing Tips
The warm-weather dining season is an ideal time to experiment with helados. And while making ice cream might sound a bit daunting, it doesn’t have to be hard.
As Diaz suggests, start simple and be bold.
“It is not too difficult to rent an ice cream machine…and dry ice is an affordable way to make it, and readily available,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to try interesting flavor combinations, either.”
Valencia recommends starting small, offering just a few flavors, and growing over time.
“I wanted to open a shop that would be welcoming to everyone, not just people who are familiar with Mexican desserts,” she shares. “You can use so many of the ingredients you find in a Mexican restaurant–sweet corn, avocado, melon, chiles. [But] I didn’t want the experience to be intimidating, because the flavors are unusual, so I try to incorporate Mexican flavors with familiar ones, too.”
Using fresh ingredients is also key.
At La Newyorkina, customers can enjoy concoctions made with chocolate from Oaxaca, dairy products from upstate New York farms, and vanilla beans from Veracruz.
And at Helados Handcrafted Ice Cream and Pops, Valencia blends whole ingredients—fruit, nuts, and vegetables–to make the shop’s creations.
Testing out recipes is a must, as well. Diaz recommends experimenting in the kitchen before putting anything on the menu.
“Sometimes ingredients sound great, but when you mix them you realize they don’t work; other times you take not-so-common ingredients and mix them together and you get a pleasant surprise,” he says. “The best part is not knowing what you’re going to get, until you taste it.”
His biggest piece of advice?
“Do not be afraid of being different, because that is what will set you apart from the rest…and don’t shy away from the chiles!”
Maya Dollarhide is a New York-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to el Restaurante.
SIDEBAR #1
Flavor and Serving Ideas for Helados
Every summer for the past several years, Rosa Mexicano has hosted the Festival de Helados to showcase unique flavors of this favorite ethnic ice cream. Last August, featured flavors included:
Vainilla con Mole—Vanilla with chocolate mole swirl
Abuelita—Cinnamon-chile spiced chocolate, candied guajillo
Cajeta y Sal Marina—Sea-salted caramel
Negra Modelo—Chocolate ice cream, candied bacon
Tamarindo—Tamarind-lime sorbet
Aguacate—Sweet avocado
Tomatillo Jalapeño—Sweet-spicy tomatillo, candied serrano
More elaborate offerings also graced the festival menu—offerings that could be incorporated quite easily onto dessert menus:
Guacamole Sundae Avocado ice cream served in a frozen molcajete with raspberries, white chocolate shavings, mint, piloncillo-chocolate sauce, cinnamon sugar tortilla chips.
Empanadas de Manzana Warm apple empanadas with spiced Mexican chocolate sauce. Topped with vanilla-chocolate mole swirl ice cream.
Buñuelos Rellenos Deep-fried vanilla-chocolate mole swirl ice cream coated in cinnamon buñuelo crust. Served with whipped cream and guajillo-raspberry sauce.
Crepas de Cajeta Crepes topped with rich caramel sauce and sea-salted cajeta ice cream.
Abuelita Banana Split Mexican chocolate ice cream, warm Mexican chocolate sauce, caramelized bananas, strawberries, and cinnamon whipped cream.
SIDEBAR #2:
Ice Cream in Mexico
Tocumbo, in the state of Michoacán, is considered the frozen dessert capital of the country. The town’s monument, Monumento al Helado y la Paleta, was even built to honor the significance of dessert in this southwestern Mexican state.
Approximately 90 percent of Tocumbo’s population works in the ice cream business, and travel experts say it is possible to find at least one Michoacana neveria (ice cream store) in every town. And it has been widely reported that the popularity of helados and other frozen treats began to soar in the 1950s, when the family-run Michoacana shops started popping up outside of Tocumbo.