Coconut & lime ice cream dream

How do you spoil yourself? Ever since I first made Laura’s burnt butter ice cream, I went on a bit of an ice cream binge, not least because this is one of those amazing ice cream recipes that doesn’t require extra stirring once in the freezer, or an ice cream maker. The long, therapeutically mindless stirring is a welcome respite from a long day of working at a screen, and it makes the apartment smell like heaven (or, what heaven should smell like anyway). The first sneaky lick of the still-warm custard is one of those food moments you won’t ever forget. Pure indulgence.

So how did burnt butter get to coconut and lime? Well, it all started when I really started itching to bake in our new apartment. Having discovered that our oven had no markings left on it, I went on the most miserable damn hunt (in pouring rain) for an oven thermometer. Five kitchenware departments later, I grouchily slunk into the chintzy homewares shop just downstairs from us to try and cheer myself up. Guess what it stocked? You freakin guessed right. Delighted, I popped up to the counter, only to realise they didn’t accept card payments for anything under $30 or something. Clearly this was a sign that I could, nay should, indulge myself a little after that ridiculous trek in the rain. I came home with two exorbitantly priced soy scented candles. One was basically for Will (vanilla) and the other was for me (coconut and lime). Possibly the best candle investment ever by the way – you just need to light them once and they act as room fragrance for weeks! They were so intoxicating that we’d sit and take deep whiffs after dinner, like supermodels having dessert or something…which is when I put my foot down and decided to actually make something coconut and lime that we could actually eat.

This turned out almost perfect the first time – my one gripe is that it freezes rock solid, so you need to let it sit on the counter for five minutes before digging into it, which is a serious test of restraint and patience. Other than that, it is pure creamy dreamy – no big ice crystals, yet also no excessive sweetness or alcohol (I’ve done this no-stir thing a LOT). The slightly melted texture is a little thicker than what you might expect from ice cream (since the cream is whipped and not cooked), but whipping the cream before freezing makes it a little less ice-blocky, and it needs all the help it can get in that department. A note to lime lovers – this is not intensely lime-y, so if you want even a shred of tartness, you’ll need to rework this. There’s just enough to reign in the super creamy richness of the coconut milk AND brown butter AND cream. Feel free to improve on this by tinkering with the ratios, I just felt the “leave for five minutes” thing was a small sacrifice for a pretty bang on flavour balance.

Coconut & lime ice cream

• 300ml cream (35% fat)
• 300ml coconut milk*
• 1 egg yolk, broken, or 1 egg if you don’t want to be stuck with leftover white
• 1/2 c sugar, or just under 1/2 c honey
• optional: 25g butter, which has been browned and cooled
• super fine zest of one lime (or if you don’t have a fine zester just smush the zest with the sugar)

*use stuff which has a maximum of two ingredients – preferably coconut cream and water, or something similar

Place a large glass or ceramic dish in the freezer.

In a low heat in the largest frypan you own, whisk sugar/honey and coconut milk until the sugar melts and the mixture is hot. Whisk a little into your egg/egg yolk, then gradually whisk the eggy mixture back into the pan. Keep whisking until mixture thickens further, then whisk in the brown butter if using. The resulting mixture should be the consistency of creme anglaise. Let cool completely. Meanwhile, beat the cream in a bowl until soft peaks form. Set aside. Add lime zest to the cooled eggy mixture.

Whisk the coconut mixture again, then pour into the cream whilst whisking, stopping once everything is just combined.

Pour/scrape everything into your freezing cold glass container, and freeze for a few hours until solid. Let sit on the bench for a few minutes before attempting to scoop.

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