This delicious and creamy Coconut Ice Cream is made the old fashioned way with toasted coconut and both heavy cream as well as coconut cream & coconut milk.
Oh man, this ice cream was GOOD. The photos can’t do it justice. If you look online for a coconut ice cream recipe, it’s really hard to find a real ice cream recipe. They’re all vegan or paleo. I’m all for that and have even made a vegan and paleo recipe from time to time, but I wanted ice cream. You know, the real stuff made with sugar, heavy cream, and egg yolks. So I had to get creative. I started this recipe off by toasting some sweetened coconut in my sauce pan. Be careful here – you want it to get evenly golden brown and not burnt. Then, I added half and half, heavy cream, coconut cream, and coconut milk. I wasn’t sure if I should go heavy and do all cream or light and go all milk, so I split the difference and used all four (and it was perfect). If you don’t like the little bits of coconut in your ice cream, you can certainly strain them out of the heated milk/cream mixture before whisking it in with the egg/sugar mixture… but if you aren’t a coconut lover, why would you be making this ice cream in the first place?
MY OTHER RECIPES
I like to chill the hot custard mixture over an ice bath before refrigerating it. Take my advice here – Don’t put too much ice water in the bottom bowl. When the ice melts, the volume increases, and if you have too much it will spill over. Learn from my mistakes, friends.
The final result is a super creamy, coconut-y, perfectly sweetened ice cream that your entire family will love. At first, my husband didn’t like it. Wanna know why? He scooped it fresh out of the freezer and dug in. You can do that with store bought ice creams, but in my opinion, homemade ice creams need a good 10-15 minutes to sit on the counter and soften before serving. Trust me on this one. Its worth the wait.
See how creamy and wonderful it turned out? I used your standard Mounds sweetened coconut flakes to make the ice cream. The kind you cook with. But for garnish, I used the fancy and oh-so-wonderful slightly sweetened, slightly salted, slightly toasted Trader Joe’s coconut flakes. If you haven’t tried them, they are wonderful straight out of the bag.
Now, I’m sure you believe me by now that this luscious ice cream is fantastic on its own. But stay tuned. Later this week you’ll see me mix in some Samoa girl scout cookies and top it with chocolate Guinness sauce as well as a homemade salted caramel sauce. Now that’s a dessert that will knock your socks off!
- 6 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup loosely packed sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup light coconut milk (canned)
- 14 ounce can coconut cream
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until light and fluffy. Set aside.
- Add the coconut to a medium sized heavy saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir the coconut until it begins to brown, about 7 minutes, but do not allow to burn. Add the half and half, heavy cream, coconut milk, and coconut cream and bring to a simmer. You want to scald the mixture without it coming to a boil. Just before it starts to boil, turn the heat off.
- Slowly pour the hot coconut milk mixture into the yolk mixture, starting with a small amout at first, whisking constantly. Once you've added enough to warm the egg mixture, add a little more, always whisking, until everything has been combined and well mixed. Then pour the mixture back into the pan.
- Set over medium-low heat and cook, stirring slowly and continuously, until the custard thickens. You know its done if you can wipe your finger across a coated spatula and it leaves a trail. This takes about 5 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil.
- Pour the custard into a clean bowl and place over an ice bath to cool while occasionally stirring to mix the hot with the cool. Refrigerate the custard until cold, at least 1 hour.
- Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure your container has been frozen at least over night prior to starting. I have a Cuisinart and had to make the ice cream in two batches, one right after the other, and the mixing process took about 30-45 minutes per batch. Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Makes about 1 quart.
Hi!
I just googled coconut ice-cream and found your recipe. I will try it in the next few days. One question. What is half and half? I can only assume you mean fat reduced milk (?).
You recipes look fabulous. I can’t wait to try them.
Veronica, Tasmania, Australia
Hi Veronica! Half and half is what we use for cream in our coffee. It is basically in between full fat milk and heavy cream. Hope that helps! -Krissy
For all the people asking..
This is how to make half and half in Australia.
Mix 1/2 cup whole milk + 1/2 cup light cream.
Mix 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream.
Mix 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
I’ve been looking for a good coconut ice cream recipe.. can’t wait to try this!
Oh I should mention, it’s 3 different ways to make “half and half”, depending on what you have at home.
Had to bring a “coconut themed dessert” for work. Delicious and (relatively) easy. Five stars!
Thank you for coming back to let me know! -Krissy
In your ingredients you list by itself ‘one cups half and half ‘ but you don’t say what exactly…please explain
Should have said one cup, not cups. Half and half is something you can buy in the store (we put it in coffee). Thicker than milk, not as thick as heavy cream. Krissy
Hello,
Could you please tell me if I need a ice maker or ice “cream” maker for this recipe? are they one in the same or is there a difference?
Thank you!
Ice cream maker is definitely different than an ice cube maker.
I’m making this right now! I’m going to add caramel and nuts afternoon goes in the ice cream maker…im so excited!
In Australia & the UK I think we just refer to it as pouring/cooking cream. The stuff you can’t whip no matter how hard you try.
Way too sweet. Cloyingly. Way more fat than any ice cream needs to be a success. So much fat that the texture and mouthfeel were both off.
I’ve made lots of ice cream with coconut being a favorite-thought I’d try this one. I fear most of it will go down the kitchen drain!
Sorry you feel that way. We love this recipe.
Awesome recipe just made it, so yummy 🙂 subbed half and half with full fat milk, and made my own swetened coconut from regular shredded conconut, still delicious. Stayed really good consistensy too while eating, didn’t melt to a puddle 🙂