Homemade Ice Cream

This summer, I bought a new ice cream freezer and took it to Rockville with us and we made ice cream every night!  Here are some of the recipes that we love... I ended up making plain vanilla everytime and then having a side bar of crushed up candy bars ( butterfinger, reeses and snickers) , oreos and fruit ( strawberries, rasp and bananas)  do people could mix in what they liked. 

Ice Cream recipes:

Coconut Ice Cream

I have gotten away from cooking the custard first so I left off the cornstarch and didn't cook it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup half-and-half (or I used evaporated milk because I had it on hand)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Place in the hot oven for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the coconut turns a light brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs with a hand held mixer (or wire whisk) until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the cornstarch and salt. Set aside.

Combine the half-and-half with the coconut milk in a heavy medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and slowly beat the hot liquid into the eggs and sugar.

Then stir in the toasted coconut, heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold (about 5 hours) or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (The mixture should be about 1 quart) When finished, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 3 hours. (We froze ours overnight and had perfect, scoopable ice cream the next day.)