Easy Coconut Ice Cream

I've never been one of those ice cream people--I have to be in the mood for it. But when I am, I want it. Now.


Before I started my sugar-free lifestyle, I loved going out for ice cream, especially when I lived in Key West. There's this little ice cream place there right on Duval Street called Flamingo Crossings where they make their own ice cream--it really is fantastic. I loved a lot of their flavors, including their Chocolate Amaretto--but my favorite was the coconut ice cream.


Wait a minute. I have coconut milk leftover from yesterday's bananas-in-coconut-creme adventure. Whoo-hoo! It's time for another round of ice cream making!


To be fair, I'm not sure if this can even be called "Ice Cream," because there is no cream or eggs in the recipe. It's so simple, in fact, that I may be cheating a bit here.


Well call me Sandra Lee if you must, but this stuff is good. And I mean GOOD, people. Good.

This could easily be a vegan recipe--mine was not, because I use a sugar substitute that is derived from whey. But if you use sugar, it's vegan.

For the sake of honesty, I must admit that tried to make this a coconut-masala chai ice cream, and I did infuse the cream mixture with two chai tea bags for 15 minutes after removing from heat--to no avail. The coconut flavor here is so prominent that there is no discernible chai flavor in the finished product. Perhaps it would be more prudent to make the masala chai mix from scratch and include it in the coconut milk at the outset of cooking it down... but that's another experiment for another day.

Easy Coconut Ice Cream

serves 2, or only 1 if you gorge on the stuff like I did

2-1/3 cups coconut milk

2/3 cup sugar (I used Whey Low Type D granular sugar substitute) OR TO TASTE*

Whisk together coconut milk and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, whisking frequently. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Whisking constantly, reduce coconut milk slightly to the consistency of heavy cream. To test for doneness, dip in a wooden spoon and draw your finger across the back. If the trail doesn't fill back in with milky goodness, it's ready.

Allow mixture to cool to room temperature, then transfer to your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions, or follow the procedure outlined in this post to make without a machine.

*This was on the sweet side--just the way I love it! But you may want to reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup if you prefer a less-sweet ice cream.

This is my entry to Joy's Ice Cream Roundup at Joy of Desserts. See the complete roundup here.