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.)

Casey's Coconut Cake/ homemade condensed milk

Over spring break, Megan had a friend from Texas come visit to go on College tours in Colorado.   They have a tradition of breaking a coconut and making a cake with it.  I found this recipe and it was a big hit- alot like tres leches cake... of course we used freshly grated coconut!

 Ingredients:
1 white cake prepared- use egg whites only
1 13 oz can coconut milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk- see recipe below or use ff
1 cup milk- I left this out so  and was glad I did-
1 bag of shredded coconut
butter
Whipped Topping
fruit toppings
Instructions:
1.  Prepare your white cake
2.  While it is baking, mix the 3 milks together and set aside
3.  When the cake comes out of the oven, pierce it all over with a fork to create holes for the liquid to seep into
4.  Slowly pour the milk all over the cake
5.  Refrigerate the cake until chilled through
6.  Mix 1 small container of whipped topping with 1 cup of shredded coconut.  Spread over top of cake.
7.  In a pan, melt 1 T butter.  Add remaining coconut and stay close, stirring frequently, while the coconut toasts.  Remove when you have a light toast and sprinkle all over the top of the cake.
8.  Top with your fruit of choice.

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk (like Eagle Brand)...never buy it again!

1/2 cup cold water,

1-1/3 cups nonfat dry milk powder,

3/4 cup sugar,

1 teaspoon vanilla.

Directions: Stir milk into cold water.

Microwave on high 45 seconds to 1 minute until steaming, stir in sugar & vanilla. Refrigerate till cool before using...makes 1-1/3 cups (1 can).