Coconut Sorbet

top view of pineapple slices with ice cream and sprinkled coconut

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A simple, light refreshing dessert!

Course: Frozen Treat

Cuisine: American

Keyword: coconut, ice cream

Calories: 2008kcal

Author: Tricia

Ingredients

2 cans coconut milk, shaken before opening
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, see note #1 below
1 cup granulated sugar
dash of salt
1 whole vanilla bean, scraped (see note #2 below)

Instructions

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, coconut milk, salt, vanilla bean and shredded coconut. Bring the mixture to a light simmer on medium-low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cover the pot with a lid and turn off the heat. Steep the mixture for one hour.
Place a fine mesh sieve over a clean bowl and strain the mixture removing as much liquid as possible. (See note #1 below) Press the coconut with the back of a metal spoon removing all liquid. Make sure the vanilla bean is scraped clean, then remove it and discard (See note #2 below).
Cover and refrigerate the sorbet mixture for several hours or overnight. Process according to your ice cream maker instructions. Store in an airtight container and freeze before serving. Allow the sorbet to sit a room temperature about 15 minutes before serving.

Notes

Note #1 - You can use any unsweetened coconut you can find. I had a bag of finely shredded organic unsweetened coconut in the freezer so that's what I used. It has an almost powder like consistency so using a sieve alone would not get the job done. I lined the sieve with a piece of cheesecloth then poured the mixture into the sieve. Once the liquid stopped dripping I twisted the material making a ball to squeeze out the remaining coconut milk. If you use a larger cut coconut you will not have to do this step. But no worries - this was not difficult but you will need a square of cheesecloth.
Note # 2 - I keep old vanilla beans in a jar of sugar to re-use if needed and also to add vanilla flavor to the granulated sugar. I used two previously used vanilla bean halves in this recipe. Once the mixture was steeped and drained, I scraped any remaining beans into the strained sorbet mixture.

(Sorbet recipe adapted from Heather Christo Cooks)

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition