Coconut ice cream - a little bite of heaven

I had my first bite of homemade ice cream the other night at a friend of friend's house, so this week I broke out my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment that I got for Christmas and stuck it in the freezer. My first ice cream attempt of the year- coconut ice cream, and it couldn't have been more right. It was unstoppable.

Needless to say, today began in tears; tears at home, tears on the way to work, tears at work, and then complete and utter bottom of the barrel awful on they way home from work. It was one of those days that you just want to go to your mama's house and have her tell you everything is going to be okay. But instead, tonight the hubby and I grabbed dinner after I got off at 7:30 and I enjoyed a nice Blue Moon with a freshly sliced orange courtesy of two new, dear friends who brought over 8 brewskies today while I was at work and my husband got to play. (Yes, this was part of the crying fit I found myself in all day. I started work and lost my life. That's an awful feeling when you just moved to a new town in a new state, way too many hours away from the precious comfort of my mama's house.)

Anyways, after my brew was finished and the orange peel tossed, I dragged myself into the kitchen to bake. Sometimes after a day like today, baking is the one thing that sets me straight again. So coconut ice cream was the challenge and for my first homemade ice cream attempt, I would say it was pretty good. I hope you get a chance to break out an ice cream maker and see the exact heaven I am talking about.

Coconut ice cream:

2 1/2 cups of low fat coconut milk

generous 3/4 cup sugar

6 egg yolks

scant 2 cups of dry (un)sweetened coconut

2/3 cup of heavy whipping cream

1. Pour coconut milk into a pot and heat over low heat. Remove from heat. Whisk sugar and egg yolks together in large mixing bowl until pale and the mixture leaves a trail behind when the whisk is taken out of the bowl.

2. Slowly add warmed milk into mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Stir until all sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture into rinsed out, cooled pot or into a double boiler. Cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until the mix thickens like a custard (coat the back of a wooden spoon and drag your finger through the mixture. If a line is left behind, the custard mixture is done. It will not be very thick.) Be sure to not let the mixture boil or the milk will curdle. 

3. Remove the custard mixture from the heat and mix in coconut. Let cool completely (about one hour), stirring occasionally to prevent a film from forming on the top.  

4. Whip cream in a mixing bowl and refrigerate until needed. 

6. Fold cooled custard mixture into whipped cream and pour into ice cream machine. Serve immediately (it will be like soft serve) or freeze 2 hours or overnight until firm. 

It is incredible. Just wait and see.