Toasted Coconut Ice Cream Infused with Lavender
This toasted coconut ice cream is creamy, fresh, and so flavorful. It’s a classic ice cream custard base infused with lavender and packed with toasted coconut flakes. This is a dessert coconut lovers will swoon over.
Ingredients
Lavender Scented Milk
- 1 can coconut milk 1 ½ cups
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons culinary lavender
Egg Mixture
- 2 egg yolks
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Toasted Coconut Add-In
- ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted for the ice cream base
- ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Make the ice cream base. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the coconut milk and the milk. Stir in the sugar and the salt. Then heat on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally to keep from separating. Bring to a simmer. Take off heat and add 2 tablespoons of lavender to the warm milk mixture and let steep for 30 minutes. Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the milk. Discard the lavender.
- After straining the lavender from the milk, in a separate, large mixing bowl, whisk 2 egg yolks with ¼ cup sugar and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until the mixture turns a shade of light yellow.
- Bring the lavender coconut milk back to a simmer. Then remove from heat and pour ¼ cup into the bowl with the egg yolk mixture, slowly, while using a whisk to stir the mixture. Then, while constantly whisking, pour in the rest of the milk.
- Add the combined milk/egg mixture back into the saucepan and bring back over to your stovetop. Cook the custard over medium heat, and stir the mixture constantly with a spatula or a wooden spoon until it thickens and lightly coats the spatula. Once the custard mixture comes to a simmer, you only need 2-3 minutes for it to thicken.
- Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Chill the ice cream base. Cover the ice cream mixture with plastic wrap by placing it directly onto the cream to prevent a skin from forming, and let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight. To speed up the cooling process, you can place the container of the creamy coconut ice cream liquid base into an ice bath and stir it often.
- Churn ice cream! Once the ice cream mixture is chilled, churn it in an ice cream maker until thick and frozen (30-40 minutes), adding in the toasted coconut in the last 5 minutes of the churn.
- Freeze. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 6 hours.
- Serve! (I like topping this ice cream with a few more toasted coconut flakes.)
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!