Coco-crazy.

It's that time again! Summer is upon us (a whopping upper 50s in Alaska! BREAK OUT THE SANDALS AND JEAN SHORTS!). That can only mean one thing: it's finally respectable to start making ice cream again. I should disclose the following factoid: Alaska eats the most ice cream per capita in the United States. Think about that for a second because we get about 3 months of summer and the rest is 40 and below from there. I've personally worn that factoid like a badge of honor; I've TOTALLY driven through McDonald's just for an ice cream in the dead of winter.

That being said, I don't MAKE a lot of ice cream in the winter. That just seems weird. But almost overnight, the sun started coming out and even though it's 50's-ish, it's still summer to us!

As previously mentioned in the last post, I started with coconut to duplicate a recipe I saw on a beautiful Flickr picture. I browsed my ice cream cookbooks and didn't find the coconut gelato she made, but did find a Toasted Coconut Ice Cream from David Lebovitz and this is the guy who came up with the bacon ice cream so I had to trust him. He's some sort of an authority on good ice cream so I felt I was in good hands.

And, man he was right. I don't mind taking two days to make something (the cooking then overnight freeze time) if it comes out this good. The coconut flavor infused in the ice cream is delicate but distinct and stands on its own perfectly. HOWEVER, I will admit that while I'm enjoying something purely coconut, my mind always wanders to chocolate (Mounds bars!) or maybe sliced almonds (Almond Joy!).

I even added more coconut on top of the ice cream when I devoured it because double double coconut is even better!

A quick note: the recipe requested unsweetened coconut but I didn't have that so I had to use sweetened. I kept the same amount of sugar that was called for, meaning mine would have come out slightly sweeter than Lebovitz' original. So you may want to weigh your options when deciding which road to take; I thought the sweetness of mine was perfect!



TOASTED COCONUT ICE CREAM
Source: David Lebovitz

Makes about 1 quart (1 liter)


1 cup dried, shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
Big pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1 teaspoon rum


Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring it frequently so it toasts evenly. Remove it from the oven when it's nice and fragrant and golden brown.

In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, 1 cup of the heavy cream, sugar and salt and add the toasted coconut. Use a paring knife, and scrape all the vanilla seeds into the warm milk, then add the pod as well. Cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the coconut-infused mixture. Set a mesh strainer over another medium saucepan and strain the coconut-infused liquid through the strainer into the saucepan. Press down on the coconut very firmly with a flexible rubber spatula to extract as much of the flavor from it as possible. Remove the vanilla bean pieces and discard the coconut.

Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and set the mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coconut-infused mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir in the cream. Mix in the vanilla or rum and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Bacon Ice Cream. Yep.

One of the best things about cooking is the excitement of trying something new, creating something or just doing the unusual because you can. My friend posed a challenge to me a few months ago, after I got my ice cream maker: she'd seen it on Top Chef and when I asked what flavor she wanted, she enthusiastically proposed BACON. She was probably half kidding but I take challenges seriously and she promised she'd at least try it if I made it.

I mulled it over for a while, thought about ways to infuse the custard base with bacon flavor (heat the cream with bacon bits then strain them out?). I planned, plotted, and was just about to just throw stuff together and see what happened. Then I found a recipe on David Lebovitz's blog and that was that. He starts by "candying" the bacon. Pretty much the same as making a sweet bacon (say, maple bacon). I really like the idea of baking the stuff, though; I have issues with frying bacon. I know, it seems easy but there's always SOMETHING that gives you problems. Bacon is one of my enemies...

Sizzle sizzle!

And the finished product. It was kind of difficult to cut but that's because it wasn't crisp (which I didn't want for the ice cream, to be honest). So it's sticky from the brown sugar and soft. Messy messy. But wait! There's more... The custard is a simple, brown sugar base (with vanilla and a splash of whisky) and it was really good by itself. But if I didn't add the bacon then it would just be brown sugar ice cream and that's not what this was about. NO.

So I put it together and gave it a taste. It tastes like... [drum roll] ice cream and bacon. IKR?? Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. BUT the friend that requested it, liked it so that's all that mattered. (And a few more people who tried it were pretty okay with it!) It's something I can say I've tried now and that's something! BACON ICE CREAM
Source: David Lebovitz

For the candied bacon;
5 strips bacon
about 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

For the ice cream custard:
3 tablespoons salted butter
3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar, light or dark (you can use either)
2 3/4 cup half-and-half
5 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons dark rum or whiskey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
optional: 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


1. To candy the bacon, preheat the oven to 400F (200C).

2. Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil, shiny side down.

3. Sprinkle 1 1/2-2 teaspoons of brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon, depending on length.

4. Bake for 12-16 minutes. Midway during baking, flip the bacon strips over and drag them through the dark, syrupy liquid that's collected on the baking sheet. Continue to bake until as dark as mahogany. Remove from oven and cool the strips on a wire rack.

5. Once crisp and cool, chop into little pieces, about the size of grains of rice. (Bacon bits can be stored in an airtight container and chilled for a day or so, or stored in the freezer a few weeks ahead.)

6. To make the ice cream custard, melt the butter in a heavy, medium-size saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and half of the half-and-half. Pour the remaining half-and-half into a bowl set in an ice bath and set a mesh strainer over the top.

7. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm brown sugar mixture to them, whisking the yolks constantly as you pour. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

8. Cook over low to moderate heat, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

9. Strain the custard into the half-and-half, stirring over the ice bath, until cool. Add liquor, vanilla and cinnamon, if using.

10. Refrigerate the mixture. Once thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the bacon bits during the last moment of churning, or stir them in when you remove the ice cream from the machine.