Coconut + Vanilla + Ice Cream

David Lebovitz has an awesome toasted coconut icecream recipe that can be found online.  i'm not sure of forum etiquette yet for links so just google it.  If you've never made icecream before it's a great thing to learn - there is a little finesse to it but it's a great skill to have!  Toast more coconut than you need for the recipe, and add some of the reserved coconut into your custard base toward the end of churning it for extra coconuttiness. 

 

Top it off with some coconut milk cheatin' caramel - melt some brown sugar in a small sauce pot, whisk in coconut milk (careful!!), and cook until smooth and reduced a bit.  A little good quality salt would be delicious in that. 

 

Or you could always make coconut macaroon ice cream sandwiches!
 

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

 

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream Recipe by David Lebovitz

 

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream Recipe

 

Quick Coconut Ice Cream Recipe with Saffron | David Lebovitz

It's not easy making really good ice cream without a really good ice cream maker. Doable with the "bag of ice" method, but everything else being equal you're not going to get the kind of texture you'd get with a good machine. Assuming the churn works as it should, the key is how quickly the mixture goes from a very cold liquid to a solid. The faster, the better.

From a "chemistry of cooking" standpoint creaminess is dependent on keeping as much ice out of the ice cream as possible, and keeping what crystals there are as small as possible. It's all about the phase change.

Thus, unless you're using a large, commercial maker, the colder you get your base before trying to turn it into ice cream the better. That almost always means at least pre-chilling in the refrigerator. Once your base is as cold as your fridge can take it, you might even want to put it in a bowl of ice and leave it in the refrigerator for an extra hour or two.

At the other end -- again using home equipment -- you've got to have the patience to put the freshly churned ice cream (or gelato, or frozen yogurt) to ripen in the freezer for at least a few hours. That will improve texture as well of taste.

More, unless you're using something very odd and poorly made, no method is very difficult and won't take much practice. As I said, as long as you're working with cold base, the limitation to the quality of homemade ice cream is the machine/method and not refined technique.

As I don't know what machines are available on the sub-continent, I'll refrain from recommendations.

Anyway, good luck,
BDL

all i know about really really good ice cream is that it's the egg yolks that make all the difference, and the cream of course. although i've never used coconut i made a vanilla ice cream once with homemade pinon brittle stirred into it..it was first cooked like a french style custard(think creme anglaise), which made it very rich and very creamy.......maybe you could substitute a bit of the cream for coconut milk(sweetened) or coconut powder if that's available.  stir it into the cream to dissolve it when you heat the cream and vanilla bean. there is also coconut extract. if you are using sweetened coconut milk, start with using only a bit and taste. again, add it to your cream and stir to dissolve evenly. it is very very sweet and rich(almost sickeningly) and is used mainly to make pina coladas here. the common brand here is coco lopez, who knows where you live, but i'm sure you have something. i have seen it in a squeeze bottle which is much easier to deal with than the can. remember it will be stronger after it sits so i would err on the side of less is better. when you do cool down your base in the fridge before putting it in the ice cream maker, make sure you wrap it in saran and press the saran onto the top of your mix, otherwise it will form a skin...hope this helps

joey

i have edited my post in hope of making it clearer. do you need specific directions and a recipe? i will be most happy to send along one if you do, but another poster mentioned david lebowitz and anything he does is great. lastly, if you don't have access to an ice cream maker, you could always make coconut flan!

Edited by durangojo - 5/21/12 at 6:41am

The very best ice cream I have ever had without using an ice cream machine is this one - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/dining/03milkrex2.html?_r=1&ref=dining

 

If you look up her blog you will find many flavor combinations.  I was especially impressed with the texture, because as boar_d_laze said, it is very hard to make good ice cream without a good ice cream maker.  Even my decent Cuisinart home ice cream machine is just OK when compared to the ice creams I can make at work.  However, the method using sweetened condensed milk results in a super creamy end product.  The flavor is slightly different because there is no custard base, but it couldn't be much easier than whipping cream and freezing.