16 March 2010

Milk Allergic/Sensitive Recipes: Coconut Ice Cream

I loved the Purely Decadent Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream when I tried it back at Christmas time.  My husband bought it for me as a gift and I was drooling over the stuff.  Later I went to the store to get it and it was $5.25 for a pint. YIKES!  That's serious treat money!  I mean I could buy three whole bags of vegan chocolate chips for that amount and those would last me longer. While walking around Publix alone to get some "me time" last week, I suddenly remembered that I own an ice cream maker.  The same ice cream maker responsible for Halloween Ice Cream and Amaretto Ice Cream from the pregnancy and pre-dairy free days of early babyhood.  Surely I could make my own coconut ice cream and for less money.  So I grabbed four 14 oz cans of coconut milk at the astonishing price of $4 and made a gallon of ice cream. You do have to like the flavor of coconut, but this treat certainly doesn't taste like a health food dessert ;)

Coconut Milk Ice Cream ***
Ingredients
  • four 14oz  cans of Coconut Milk (I used two regular and two 'lite')
  • 1 cup sugar
Instructions
  1. Warm coconut milk in a saucepan with the sugar until the sugar dissolves.
  2. Cool for 4 hours in the refridgerator.
  3. Dump in ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers directions.
Possible Variations 
I haven't tried any of these variations, but I'm sure they'd be tasty.  If you try one, let me know how it goes.
  • Pina Colada: Add a can of crushed pineapple
  • Chocolate: Put 1 Cup Dutch Process Cocoa in the saucepan and then gently whisk in the coconut milk.  Add coconut flakes for an almond joy delight!
  • Berry: Puree 2 Cups of fresh or frozen berries. Strain the puree in a cheesecloth if the seeds of your chosen berrry bother you
  • Tropical: Puree 2 Mangos and 1 small Papaya and add to the mix



***WARNING: This stuff may be quite addictive.  Don't say I didn't warn you...

2 comments:

Carolyn said...

That recipe sure does sound delicious! But I think that when you make home-made ice cream with canned coconut milk, you end up with something that has lots more fat than Purely Decadent. I'm all about saving money though, and I found Purely Decadent on sale at my local Publix store just this past weekend!

Melissa Ann said...

The Lite Coconut milk had a bunch less fat than the regular (and you could tell visually when you opened the can). You could always do half coconut/half soy/almond/rice if you were concerned about fat. Also, if you made it without sugar it'd be diabetic friendly.
While breastfeeding two, I'm not all that concerned about fat. I'm more concerned about eating enough fat so that I actually feel full for more than an hour ;)