I had never tried to make coconut ice before, as I thought that it was just way to difficult to make.

Well I wouldn’t say that it was easy, but it wasn’t too difficult. I don’t think that it is one for the little people to help with, but I am sure that they will have fun eating it, probably in small amounts though as it has a fair bit of sugar in it.

I was going to take a few pictures of the making but with the saucepan bubbling away and you have to be quick before it sets, it all got a bit to hard, so we just have a picture of the finished product.

Another recipe from the super duper Edmonds Cookery Book

Coconut Ice

3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup milk
25g butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup coconut
few drops of food colouring

Put icing sugar, milk, butter and salt into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Bring tot he boil. Do not stir. Let mixture boil until the soft ball stage. Add coconut. remove mixture form the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Divide mixture in half. add a few drops of food colouring to one portion and beat until mixture starts to thicken. Pour into a buttered tin. Beat the white portion until it starts to thicken. Spread this mixture on top of the pink mixture. Allow to cool. Cut into squares.

A couple of explanations and tips.

Soft ball stage - Drop a small amount of syrup into very cold water. A soft ball forms that flattens on removal.

I tried this but still didn’t have a clue as to whether it was soft ball or not. It just seemed to plop into the water and floated to the bottom. I emptied the water out and the blob at the bottom seemed to form a ball, so I figured it was ready.

Dividing the mixture in half - don’t spend to much time preparing the pink bit, the white bit is setting while you are doing it.  I spent a little too much time worrying about whether the pink bit was mixed enough, but now I am sure that my white bit needed more mixing, but it was going to hard and I wouldn’t have been able to put it on top if I spent any more time on it.

Tin Size - It only makes a small amount, so only use a small tin, or it will work out very thin.

Getting it out of the tin - I found that when I placed the bottom of the tin in hot water, it softened it enough for it just to fall out, easy.

Doesn’t look that bad, and boy it tastes pretty good. Not too good for the waist line but a spoil every now and then never hurt anyone.

Have you ever made coconut ice?