Coconut Cardamom Ice Cream

Since I've been home in Oregon I've been in complete awe of the beauties of spring. All the plants are sprouting back up again and the plentiful tulips and irises are just stunning. Even though it is still quite cold here, I decided to make some ice cream to celebrate the *hopefully* coming warm weather. I had purchased some coconut cream at the Indonesian grocery store I frequent back in LA, and I hadn't figured out what to use it for yet, so I brought it up with me to my parents' house in the hopes of incorporating it into a meal or treat of some kind. I decided to use it for the ice cream, and, having never used coconut cream before, I was surprised by the thickness.

It is much denser than coconut milk, and looks a lot like Elmer's glue when it is sitting in a measuring cup. It smelled amazing, though, very strongly of coconut. I also added cardamom because, well, I love it. The ice cream was delicious, (though, how can ice cream not be?), and the flavor combination was fantastic. They complemented each other perfectly! Hopefully now that the skies see me making ice cream, they'll take a hint and raise the temperature about 15 degrees or so....

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Ingredients:

2 Large Egg Yolks, whisked lightly

1 and 1/4 Cups Whole Milk

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

3/4 Cup Coconut Cream

2/3 Cup Sugar

1 Teaspoon Ground Cardamom

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Fill a large bowl half full with 1 part ice and 3 parts cold water. Set it aside. In the top pot of a double boiler, heat the milk and ground cardamom over simmering water until the milk begins to steam. Remove from heat and set it aside to cool slightly for 15 minutes.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the sugar and the egg yolks. The mixture will become very thick, and may stick in the whisk. If this happens, poke it out with a flat spatula. Slowly add half of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. When they are fluidly combined, pour them back into the remaining milk mixture in the top of the double boiler.

Place the double boiler back over a low flame and bring the water in the bottom to a simmer. Heat the custard in the top pot for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Then remove the top pot and place it in the ice bath. Allow it to cool down to room temperature.

Stir in the coconut cream, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla extract until completely blended. Pour the  mixture into a bowl and place the bowl in the refrigerator to chill for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove it from the refrigerator and freeze it in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. I use a cuisinart ice cream machine and it usually takes about 15 minutes of churning before the ice cream reaches the right consistency. Pour the ice cream into a freezable container, (not glass, as it will shatter when the ice cream expands), and place it in the freezer to solidify for 2 hours. Serve frozen.