The other day, while hunting for a tin of coconut milk, I came across condensed milk. It can be tricky to find here so I grabbed one and then stuck it in the grocery cupboard and promptly forgot all about it.
Then last weekend while looking for something yummy to snack on, I pulled out the tin. I also spied a bag of desiccated coconut and an idea struck.
Coconut ice!
I remember the white and pink sugar overload from my childhood quite fondly and decided to whip up a batch and introduce it to my children. Faith was dutifully impressed, Aaron took one sniff and said no way!
Its really, really easy to make and took no time at all. The hardest part was the mixing, its really good for toning your arms!
Super sweet, super sticky, coconut treats.
- 1 tin condensed milk
- 500 g icing sugar
- 400 g desiccated coconut
- 3 drops red food colouring you can use any colour you like and even add flavouring if you want
-
Pour the condensed milk into a large bowl.
-
Add the icing sugar and the coconut and mix together. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all the condensed milk.
-
Keep mixing. The mixture will be very stiff. Keep going.
-
Line a square or rectangular, deep sided dish with baking paper.
-
Scoop out half the mixture and using your hands or the back of a spoon, press the mixture into the dish. It doesnt have to be perfect but the more uniform the thickness is, the better it will look when you cut it into squares.
-
Add your colouring (and/or flavouring) to the remaining mixture and mix well until the entire mixture is coloured to your liking.
-
Scoop out the coloured mixture and using your hands or the back of a spoon, spread it over the first layer in the dish and press it down.
-
Once everything is smoothed out to your satisfaction, place the dish, covered, in the fridge for a few hours.
-
Once cold and set, remove the coconut ice from the dish, peel off the baking paper and slice into small squares with a sharp knife.
-
Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag for up to 3 weeks in the fridge.
You can add a bit of cocoa powder to the 2nd half of the mixture instead of food colouring to make a vanilla chocolate ice.