Homemade Coconut Ice Cream
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved ice cream. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry… or when I was feeling indecisive, neapolitan! When I was a kid my parents used to take my brother and I to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Going there was a special treat, and after a huge plate of pasta topped with mizithra cheese I’d always order a serving of spumoni ice cream. Ah, those were the days. What was your favorite ice cream flavor as a child?
Though I still love spumoni, for the past few years my favorite flavor of ice cream has been coconut. I love it’s sweetness and texture, but since I’ve yet to find it at the grocery store my indulgences have been limited to the rare fancy restaurant visit. Even Cold Stone doesn’t serve it, and though one can get a “mock” version by ordering a yummy coconut cream pie combination, it just isn’t the same.
Then my birthday rolled around and the hubby gave me an ice cream maker along with several books on making gourmet ice cream. Joy!! Moments after opening the box I popped the core of the machine into the freezer for it’s 24 hour freezing period, and by the next evening we had ourselves a lusciously flavorful batch of homemade coconut ice cream.
Homemade Coconut Ice Cream
Indeed, this stuff is so good that I skipped my free birthday ice cream at Cold Stone in favor of eating what we’d made at home. (I’d even go so far as to say that this is the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.) If you’re a coconut & ice cream fan who has an ice cream maker at home, do give this recipe a go. Next week I’ll be posting a recipe for vanilla ice cream made with rose water. I’m thinking it’ll be an excellent companion to thanksgiving apple pie. :yum:
Homemade Coconut Ice Cream
Tools: cookie sheet, sauce pan, strainer, ice cream maker
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Place in the hot oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the coconut turns a light brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs with a hand held mixer until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the cornstarch and salt. Set aside.
Combine the half-and-half with the coconut milk in a heavy medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and slowly beat the hot liquid into the eggs and sugar. Briefly rinse your saucepan and rub dry with paper towel or cloth. Pour the eggs, sugar, etc mixture back into the saucepan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the hot custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, about five minutes, then stir in the toasted coconut, heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold (about 5 hours) or overnight.
Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 3 hours. (We froze ours overnight and had perfect, scoopable ice cream the next evening.)
This delicious recipe is from: The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More by Bruce Weinstein. The ice cream was made with a Cuisinart ICE-20 1-1/2-Quart Automatic Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt, and Sorbet Maker.
37 Responses to “Homemade Coconut Ice Cream”
Hi
Twitter | Pandora | Playlist
Recipes Delivered
Happy Thoughts
7wks old & rockin the hoodie.Currently Reading
Recently Read
Awesome! I love coconut and there is nothing better than homemade icecream You are going to have a blast! You might have to change the name of your blog to “Baking, Books and Ice Cream!”
Oh my, that looks delicious! I could use a nice big scoop right now since the weather is very warm today on the west coast. Congrats on another successful recipe result!
Ari, I’m a big ice-cream fan, too. I love it very much!
The ice-cream texture is amazing, so professional!
I forgot to change the info. Just wanted to tell you that my blog has a version in English now.
Thank you!
fave icecream as a child was raspberry ripple but now I love peanut/hazelnut any nut flavours – with chocolate toffee maple flavours also.
There is a chain of noodle restaurants here in the uk called Wagamamas – they do great coconut icecream but I bet it doesn’t compare to this – it looks delicious!
That looks and sounds delicious. I have never tried coconut ice cream but coconut cake and pie are delicious. My favorite ice cream growing up was vanilla and still it’s difficult to beat a good vanilla ice cream. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Lovely blog…found you by happenstance through a comment left on Heidi’s latest post! Hurrah for modern technology.
I love ice cream, but I do not have an ice cream maker at home, which is probably a good thing. My favorite with pumpkin pie is cinnamon ice cream. I bet that would be lovely homemade.
Or even a pumpkin spice latte ice cream ….
Or rum raisin ice cream ….
It’s a good thing I don’t own an ice cream maker.
What a beautiful picture!!!
I think I would like this. I’m too big on chocolate but coconut could be interesting.
Your ice cream looks scrumptious!
Paz
so many people are coming out with so many great ice creams! i have this urge to go buy an ice cream maker. i wonder if i could get a good off season deal on one…
…off season deal? hm, i don’t know if that applies to kitchen appliances. i mean, it’s not a bathing suit…
Can you believe I’ve never ever had coconut ice cream? Gaaaah, I can imagine it’d be a most tasty combination!
My ice cream maker has been sitting on a shelf in my basement for years, waiting for me to get inspired. Your coconut ice cream looks great! Now if someone would create a sugar-free chocolate ice cream that looked half this good…..
Connie, Ellie, Lydia – Why are we all up so early? Gah!! lol.
Wow…skipping cold stone!! I’d put some dark chocolate on top!
Yum! I love coconut. Unlike you, though, I have no courage to make ice cream…. well it doesn’t help that I have no ice cream maker!
Jeff – It doesn’t need chocolate! And that’s saying something coming from a devoted chocolate fanatic like myself.
I love coconut ice cream, it has such a rich texture. I made some during the summer and it didn’t last a day. My brother was home and had most of it for a late night snack.
I used to be a huge — HUGE — fan of ice cream. Now I can’t seem to eat much more than a spoonful at a time. But my hands down, all time favorite is Neopolitan!
oooh… that ice cream looks so sinful…just look at the texture… perfect!
That looks AMAZING!!!!!
Thanks for posting a comment on my “Giving Thanks for Mothers” contest.
I have laughed, and I sure have cried while reading through all the entries. And I’ve RE-READ them all since coming home from my conference, too.
I wish I could post ALL of them as winners, maybe send out some more books from my winnowed out collection.
But I’ve FIANLLY published a winner and invite you to come on by and check out my post. I am working on a sidebar link to the winning post, but also a link to the contest post with ALL of the listed entries.
My favorite ice cream, when I was a kid, was black cherry ice cream. I could never eat it without making a mess for some reason. And come to think of it, I still make a mess when I eat it.
I also like the adult version…Brandied Black Cherry! I didn’t realize the soaked the cherries in brandy, until I finished the third scoop, but boy was it good.
Your ice cream looks so wonderful. I thought about getting an ice cream machine, but I know I would use it wayyyyy too much. My favorite ice cream flavor has always been vanilla. Boring!
Hi Ari, i loved ice cream as a child and didn’t have one single favourite. How could i choose just one?
I don’t eat as much ice cream as i used to. I make them now and again and would also indulge on Jersey soft ice cream in the summer.
Your coconut ice cream looks and sounds delish!
Amazing! I can’t wait to get my kitchen aid mixer with the ice cream attachment.. haha.
I would take homemade over Coldstone any day. Happy Birthday!
Gorgoeous recipe! I love anything coconut…but as a child I believe I most often went for chocolate. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Ari, when I was a kid, the Mizithra cheese topped spaghetti was my all time favourite at the Spaghetti Factory! I never ordered anything different, and we would go there a few times a year. I moved away from the US in 1989 and every time I went back for a visit, I would have to go back there to try it again. Now I am living in Vancouver where they not only have a Spaghetti Factory but actually sell mizithra cheese in the grocery store so I can make my own, woohoo!!
This looks so good!! I love the gentle sweetness of coconut. I bet this would be perfect with some coffee… I don’t know why I think that but it just sounds great.
Pammie – Oh you are so lucky! They closed the OSF in my hometown and there isn’t one near here. I think my husband and I are going to have to go on an OSF roadtrip sometime, lol.
Mmm, this looks divine!
Coconut ice cream?? Yum!!! I might have to add “ice cream maker” to my holiday wishlight!! =)
I just wanted to add that since I read this post last night before I went to bed, all i dreamed about was coconut ice cream! Everywhere I went people were telling me it was their favorite kind of ice cream and nobody could believe I’d never tried it! Guess I have to try it =)
Well I guess there are worse things to dream about that coconut ice cream right? And yes, you really, really do have to try it. Really.
i made this ice cream last night but mine is a sugar free version. i must say that this is the best tasting ice cream i’ve ever made is just fantastic. apart from using artificial sweetner i also added two teaspoon coconut extract for a extra strong coconut flavor, 1 teaspoon rum extract for a little heat and 1 teaspoon vanilla. yum yum!!
one more thing i also used fresh grated coconut and i sweeted it with sugar free syrup then toasted it. you will never believe this version was sugar free!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Kimberly! And way to go for making it your own.