Another great kid-friendly recipe from our guest blogger Kristen Beer from With a Grain of Salt.
Tonight I made something kind of like Italian ice. I got some limes from a neighbor’s tree and started looking up recipes! I ended up combining two and the results are delicious! This cool tasty treat is sweet, tart, and just a little bit creamy.
Ingredients:
1 cup lime juice
1 tbs lime zest
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
Combine 1 cup sugar, lime zest, and 1 cup water in a small sauce pan and boil/stir till the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the mixture over a wire mesh strainer to remove the zest. It will be plenty tart without the zest, so get rid of it unless you really want to chew your ice. It will probably look pretty with the zests left in but I don’t like to eat zests. So there.
Let the dissolved sugar mixture cool down and then add the lime juice, vanilla, and coconut milk.
Tartness Tip: This will be very very tart. Not sour, but tart. For a less intense lime experience, try omitting the zest and halving the lime juice.
If you have an ice cream maker:
Let the mixture cool all the way down in the fridge and then pour it into your ice cream maker and let it spin for 25 minutes. It’s yummy right away but I like to put it in an air tight container in the freezer and let it get a little more solid. Takes about 1 more hour.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker:
Pour the mixture into a large container and put it into the freezer. Stir every hourish. The wider the container the better as it will freeze more quickly if the liquid is shallower. If you buy those huge plastic drums of ice cream, those work great. Once you’ve gotten it to a consistency you like, consolidate it into a smaller container.
This will also make killer popsicles.
A note on freezing:
After using the ice cream maker, I put a layer of wax paper on the top of the liquid in the container before putting it in the freezer. This keeps an icy build up from forming on top which has no flavor and kinda kills whatever you’ve made. Just cut a piece of paper the size of the container and let it float on top.
A note on adding alcohol: Booze can be added any time, but the best results for a daiquiri type treat come when you add the liquor before the freezing process. Otherwise you get a melty slush. Melty slushy adult beverages are all well and good, but to get one that has that nice firm frozen texture just makes it that much better!
I would add either rum or a coconut flavored vodka.
A note on preserving backyard limes:
Lime zest freezes and defrosts nicely!
A note on zesting limes:
Store bought limes will all have a waxy coating on them which helps keep them from going bad. You’ll want to scrub this off before zesting using a veggie wash and a scrub brush.
Next time I make this:
I will add coconut extract for a little more flavor.
ll drop some green food coloring in the last few minutes while my ice cream maker spins for a green and white marbled effect. Re
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