Chocolate-Coconut Ice Cream with Oatmeal Cookies « The Kitchen of Oz

Chocolate-Coconut Ice Cream with Oatmeal Cookies

I want to talk about something we all love. I doubt there will be anyone on this planet who does not like it, if not craves for it. Wait for it…Yes, I am talking about ice cream which is the coolest thing –literally- on a hot summer day.

The story of ice cream begins a long time ago –over 3000 years- in China. We all know that Chinese invented so many things throughout the history like gunpowder, ink, umbrella, porcelain etc. but let me say, ice cream is the tastiest discovery of them among all. No need to say it was not the same ice-cream as we are used to consume today. Ancestor of today’s ice cream was mostly a mixture of snow from the mountains, fruit, wine, and honey. As expected it could not be found easily since you need to obtain ice from a mountain or let’s say you need some slaves or soldiers to do that for you. This difficulty in ice supply turned ice cream to a delicacy that could only be found on the emperor’s dining table at first.

Well known adventurer Marco Polo was the one to return from China to Italy with this recipe in hand, snow ice cream with an addition of extra milk. Not surprisingly, rich people of Italy loved the idea of this frozen milk. When you use rich and Italian in the same sentence you should expect another famous figure, Catherine Medici, to come out at the same instant. This gourmand lady took the recipe to France when she married the French king Henry II in 1533. French chefs added chocolate -what would you expect other than that- and strawberry to make it closer to the ice cream we eat today. It took almost 300 years more for White House guests to be served ice cream.

When we come back to our time I feel so happy that we don’t need to be rich or a high-born to enjoy a scoop of this beauty. It is not that difficult to make your own ice cream. For sure it is more laborious than buying from a supermarket in your neighborhood but also easier than climbing up the mountains for a bucket of snow. There is no point in mentioning the superior taste of homemade ice cream over fabricated ones I guess. Consider this recipe as a treat to yourself and indulge in the deep flavor of chocolate and coconut with each spoon. Bon appétit!

Ingredients (for 1 liter of ice cream)

200 ml (6,8 fl. oz)heavy cream
400 ml (13,6 fl. oz) coconut milk
5 egg yolks
220 g (7,8 oz) dark chocolate
190g (28,2oz) sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
60 gram (2,1 oz) oatmeal cookies

Instructions

1.	Chop the chocolate bar into small pieces.
2.	Heat the heavy cream in a heavy skillet (do not boil).
3.	Add chocolate to heated cream and whisk thoroughly to melt the chocolate completely. Place a mesh strainer on top of the skillet.
4.	In another pan combine half of the coconut milk with sugar and place it on medium heat. Stir frequently.
5.	Whisk the egg yolks and add a spoon of hot milk-sugar mixture while you keep on whisking continuously. Add some more mixture to egg yolks slowly and whisk.
6.	Pour the egg mixture back into the milk-sugar combination and cook until it thickens (it should cover the back of a spoon when you take the spoon out of the mixture) then wait for a while to cool it down slightly.
7.	Drain the mixture through the mesh strainer to combine with chocolate and cream. Add vanilla extract and rest of the coconut milk. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well blended. Refrigerate the final combination.
8.	Slowly pour the refrigerated mixture into your ice cream machine bowl and churn it according to the manufacturer’s instructions –if you do not have an ice-cream machine take a look at the note below for an alternative method-
9.	In the last minute of churning add chopped oatmeal cookies. Use an airtight container to keep your ice cream in deep freezer. You may sprinkle some sliced almonds before serving.

Note: If you do not have an ice cream machine that does not mean you cannot make your own ice cream. Take a large and shallow glass bowl -like the ones we use as ovenware- and pour the final mixture in it. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours than place the bowl in the deep freezing section. Wait for approximately half an hour then take the bowl out and mix well with a metal fork for 3 minutes, you may use a hand blender (with metal blade) as well to make this task easier. There should not be any ice crystals left on the edges. Put the bowl back to the deep freezer and follow the same procedure for 3-4 times. After the ice cream is ready add chopped oatmeal cookies and mix, transfer your ice cream to an air tight container and keep in the deep freezer till you serve.

chocolate, coconut, cream, ice, oatmeal