Divine Coconut Ice Ice-Cream @ My Family Table

I don’t remember a Christmas without Coconut Ice. The explosion of uber-sweet coconutty goodness was heaven for my childhood self. My mother would faithfully make the stuff, year-in year-out, even that one year when she didn’t have pink food colouring so used green instead. That year was a boon for me; green coconut ice, though identical in flavour to its pink relation, wasn’t anywhere near as popular with our guests.

Coconut Ice Ice-Cream @ My Family Table

The one problem with the process of devouring Coconut Ice on those hot and humid Australian Christmas days was that it added to the stickiness. “If only this was real ice…” I’d wonder.

Moreish Coconut Ice Ice-Cream @ My Family Table
Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - Festive Favourites

So for this Sweet Adventures Blog Hop I’ve taken my Festive Favourite, Coconut Ice, and translated it into ice-cream. It’s sweet. It’s rich. It’s coconutty. It’s pink and white. And you know what? I quite like it. I hope you enjoy.

My recipe is loosely based on this one for Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream.

You’ll need

  • An ice-cream maker
  • 6 small ice-cream moulds (holding about 180ml)
  • A piping bag (optional)

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup desiccated coconut, plus 2 tbsp extra for garnish
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • A pinch of salt
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 cups double/heavy cream
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 1 cup pure icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
  • 2 drops pink food colouring

Method

Take the vanilla bean and cut in half lengthways. Scrape the seeds with a knife, then add the seeds and pod to saucepan containing the two cups of milk. Heat the milk to scalding point over a medium high heat. You’ll know you’re there when small bubbles form around the edge of the milk. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool and infuse for about 30 minutes.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl to remove any large lumps. Add the egg yolks and beat with an electric mixer until thick and pale.

Next, remove the vanilla pod from the milk and strain to remove some of the vanilla seeds. Reheat the milk to scalding point. Pour the milk into a pouring jug (this will also help to remove some of the vanilla seeds). Very gradually, whisk the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture to make a custard.

Custard For Ice-Cream @ My Family Table

Using a water bath, or over a very low heat, heat the custard, stirring regularly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon. This may take about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, continuing to stir occasionally. When cool enough, place in the fridge to chill.

When the custard has chilled, whisk in the cream, then place in an air-tight container and chill in the freezer for 1-2 hours. You’ll know that it’s ready if you see a frozen layer of ice-cream on the walls of the container.

Mixing Coconut Ice Ice-Cream @ My Family Table

Transfer the custard to your ice-cream maker, and churn for 30-40 minutes (this will depend on your ice-cream maker). In the last 10 minutes of churning, add the desiccated coconut. With 5 minutes of churning to go, remove half of the mixture and half-fill your ice-cream moulds. You might find that a piping bag makes this easier.

Ice Cream Moulds @ My Family Table

Add two drops of pink food colouring to the remaining ice-cream mixture, and continue to churn until the colour is even. Transfer the pink ice-cream to your moulds, and return to the freezer for at least another 4 hours, though overnight is better.

Just prior to serving, remove a mould from the freezer, and run it under cold water. Turn the ice-cream onto a plate, and garnish with about ½-1 teaspoon of coconut.

Heavenly Coconut Ice Ice-Cream @ My Family Table

You might like to ask a small child to help with the clean-up.

Lil Likes To Help Clean Up @ My Family Table

Or maybe not.

Merry Christmas!

This is my final post for 2011, so I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year. Thank you for visiting my little part of the blogosphere, I’m really pleased to have you here. See you all in 2012!

My Family Table Christmas Tree

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