Coconut question of the minute:
Can toasting coconut and steeping it in milk really make the ice cream difference? Can the darkened, crunchy and fragrant toasted coconut infuse the milk, á la cereal milk, and churn out the loveliest, coconutty-flavorful creamy spoon of ice cream? These are the questions that keep me up at night. Er, not really.
You may or may not have noticed but lately I’ve been REALLY into using something other than eggs to creamify my ice creams. Sweetened condensed milk and maple syrup have done tremendous jobs in this department, so I decided to experiment with sweetened condensed milk this time. I combined a few different ice cream recipe ideas: infusing milk with toasted coconut I culled from The Perfect Scoop, and using sweetened condensed milk and coconut I found online from a little bit of Googling. Actually it seems as though many Caribbean coconut ice cream recipes combine these very two ingredients: coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk! So I had faith in this little ice cream experiment.
The result? The loveliest, creamiest, smoothest texture and the most delicious fragrant-toasted-coconutty ice cream I’ve yet to make.
And here is the recipe for you to try.
Toasted Coconut Ice Cream
equipment
- ice cream machine!
ingredients
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 ½ cups coconut milk, just about one 14 ounce can
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 cups shredded sweetened coconut (or unsweetened if you prefer!)
- pinch of salt
instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay 3 cups of shredded coconut on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Toast coconut until browned, watching carefully, about 10-12 minutes, stirring it around once to ensure overall toastiness. Remove from oven, let cool.
- In a medium pot on medium heat, combine heavy cream and coconut milk until warmed and steam is rising, hot enough to steep the toasted coconut.
- Remove pot from heat and set aside. Add 2 cups of toasted coconut, stir and let steep for 1 hour. Reserve 1 cup of toasted coconut for topping your ice cream later!
- Come on back to your coconut milk party mixture. Strain mixture into a medium sized bowl, removing soggy toasted coconut.
- Reheat coconut milk mixture in your medium pot. Slowly add the contents of one can of sweetened condensed milk and a pinch of salt until combined. Once combined, remove from heat, pour into bowl for chilling.
- Chill mixture for 1 hour in freezer or 3-4 hours in fridge until well-chilled!
- Pour into ice cream machine and churn it up for 25-30 minutes!
- Scoop a lovely bunch of it into an ice cream bowl, top with toasted coconut and enjoy!
- Note: texture will be quite soft (about the texture of soft serve ice cream). Scoop it into a container and harden it a bit in the freezer first before serving, or enjoy straight away.
Lydia
Kitchenware twins! I have the same strainer and Mario Batali spatula. Although I do love my Le Creuset spatula the most (and so does D. Lebs.)
This sounds really interesting and tasty. Good for you for experimenting. Does it get rock hard in the freezer though? I find it much less scoopable without eggs.
I just bought the same ice cream maker that David Lebovitz has. Exciting!!!
lyndsay
Hi Lydia!!
Haha, that’s awesome.. kitchenware twins… which ice cream maker does DL have? Please do share!
It is actually extremely smooth and perfectly scoopable! Due to the high sugar content of the sweetened condensed milk. I am so excited about using it in more and more ice creams… it does make things quite sweet though but I intend to try halving the amount it once I get more time to experiment!
miz creamcone
Hey Lynds – This sounds phenomenal! I need to try your recipe. Btw, do you read DL’s blog? http://www.davidlebovitz.com/
I’m so envious of his life. :)
triplescoopdesserts
Wow that sounds like a super sweet Ice Cream! Yummy!
lyndsay
hi m~~! i do read it when i remember to!! seriously dreamy, eh??
thanks bao!! :)
Spitzer
Hey Lyndsay,
Two questions… are you getting away from eggs because of recalls (does our recall in the States effect you in BC?) or health or what?
Second. Salt for flavor? I’ve done salt for chocolate and caramel, but I’d think the coconut wouldn’t work. Or is there another reason for the salt?
Ok that’s more like 6 questions… but it two groups.
PS I’m making roasted pear this weekend check it out when I post it.
lyndsay
hi spitzer!
no, i was getting away from eggs to experiment in how an ice cream can keep its shape and scoopable consistency. also, my husband is not an egg fan so that played a small role…
present day mass food production (ie egg production) is quite scary… and it’s caught up to them and bit them in the ass it seems!
i think everything benefits from a little pinch of salt. :)
thanks for the questions! i will check out your new ice cream too!
jessjess
I think I read somewhere you like to use up the yolks after making so many buttercreams and such for the cupcakes. And this is exactly what I do when I make too many macarons! I know you like Momofuku (a la the cereal milk recipe) but thought you’d want to try his crack pie recipe, which requires 8 egg yolks. Not exactly ice cream related, I know.
http://momofukufor2.com/2010/02/momofuku-milk-bar-crack-pie-recipe/
lyndsay
hey jessjess! weird, i JUST went to that blog for the first time yesterday! and here’s another weird thing: just got the bon appetit with christina tosi and the recipe for crack pie and blueberry cream cookies!! i even bought dried blueberries for the occasion of making them! thanks for the link! :)
lyndsay :)
The Frozen Fix
I’m always surprised how creamy coconut milk is! This looks fab. Now I’m craving toasted coconut…
LunaCafe
Intriguing and thank you for the interesting post! I have not tried the condensed milk idea for ice cream. I have to say I don’t like the flavor of condensed milk but assume that it is somehow masked here? The ice cream looks smooth and creamy though, as it should. Must give this a try. …Susan
THE OLD GEEZER
I added myself to follow your blog. You are more than welcome to visit mine and become a follower if you want to.
God Bless You ~Ron
Chelsea
This recipe looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it!
Chelsea @ http://ducksoven.blogspot.com/
shapewear
Toasted coconuts on ice cream? never tried this before. Will try it out later. Here in our country, we put toasted coconuts on rice cakes. Just a share. Thanks for the share.
Anonymous
If only there were a way to ship some samples!!
lyndsay
thank you, thank you everyone for your comments!
lunacafe, i think the flavour is mostly the toasted coconut!! i love what condensed milk does the scoopability and texture of the ice cream which is why i’ve been using it quite a bit lately…
thanks ron!
thanks chelsea!
toasted coconut on rice cakes sounnds excellent too i must admit! :)
anon, maybe i should make astronaut ice cream to ship!! ;)
Vanessa2010
Ice cream dessert,you have varieties at hand. Many the machines will include recipe book. Generally the difference in the ingredient preparation between the conventional ice cream and soft serve is then the milk content. Soft serve uses less the fat content and this can be achieved by the lessening the amount of milk into then the mix.
ice cream machines
cynthia
Yes. Please. <3