It’s an ice cream summer, never difficult in a household that calls Friday “Ice Cream Night”. As much as we love Connecticut made ice creams – Arethusa’s vanilla, chocolate or coffee and Honeycone’s Vegan Lime Basil in particular – nothing compares with making it at home. I love French-style vanilla ice cream, based on a rich cooked egg custard. For something simpler, I fall back on this Coconut Lemon Ice Cream. It’s rich and tart at the same time. And when hit with vanilla, it crosses from tart refreshing to creamy elegant.
Peaches are in season here now so I served them ice cream with them. One trick I use is to place crumbled cookies in the bottom of the ice cream serving bowl. (Biscoff coookies in this case but any cookie or cake crumbs will do.) They anchor the ice cream so it doesn’t jump out of the bowl when you go to servce it, especially important if you use a wide shallow bowl like these.
Jump to Recipe
This recipe is a mash up of things I’ve read and learned. Mark Bittman wrote an article about a stress-free dinner party for the NY Times Magazine several years ago. (Thers’ no date on the yellowed clipping.) In it he created a matrix of mix and match starters, mains and desserts that I saved. His Coconut Sorbet recipe uses coconut milk and sugar syrup. Jacques Pepin has a wonderful lemon cream dessert made using sweetened condensed milk, whipped cream and lemon juice. That gave me the idea to combine the two concepts into one. (It seems I am not alone because the internet is full of recipes for this simple combo.)
Kitchen Notebook
The Swedish company Anrkarsrum makes a stunning workhorse of a mixer that I have been using for the past year. It is both beautiful and effective. It is thanks to them that we are now enjoying so much ice cream. They sent me their ice cream attachment to try too. It’s easy to use, just a freezer container with a cover, something you don’t see. And a paddle and bowl in which it sits on the machine. The company representatives also introduced me to Vain Foods, a and small batch vanilla company that was new to me. Terrific flavors that I look forward to trying in my butter cookies and other baked goods.
Ingredients
One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
One 13- ounce can coconut milk
3 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lemon or lime zest
2 teaspoons Vain’s Tonga Vanilla
Crunchy cookie such as Biscoff
Sliced fresh peaches
Edible flowers, if desired
Directions
- Prepare the ice cream base the day before you plan on churning it.
- Whisk together the condensed milk, coconut milk, lemon juice, rind and vanilla. Chill overnight.
- Pour the mixture into the pre chilled canister of your ice cream maker such as the Ankarsrum or other free-standing machine.
- Process until firm enough to scoop like soft serve. Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze until it is firmer, if desired, before serving.
- To serve, crumble a few cookies into the bottom of each serving bowl. Place one or two scoops of ice cream on top. Garnish with sliced peaches and flowers.
