NO-CHURN PINA COLADA ICE CREAM

No-churn pina colada ice cream | Hello Victoria

You have no idea how excited I am about this recipe!! Well, if you know me at all, then you’ll probably be able to guess how excited. I consider ice cream to be the best food group of them all. 😉

When I moved to the UK, one of the items I couldn’t bring with me was my Kitchenaid mixer. This was not just a loss in terms of making things like marshmallows and other meringues but in the loss of ice cream. See, I got the ice cream attachment for my mixer a few years back for my birthday! It’s pretty great being able to make my own flavors etc. – but without the machine, I couldn’t do any of that.

No-churn pina colada ice cream | Hello Victoria

Now, I had heard about no-churn recipes before but had only tried a couple in the past. This one got me excited in more ways than just being able to make ice cream; I happen to looooove pina coladas. Give me pineapple and coconut any day… and throwing in some rum doesn’t hurt!

What makes this no-churn ice cream work is two things – the alcohol and the cream. By whipping the cream to soft peaks before freezing, you’re essentially adding the air that would have been churned in during the freezing process. The other thing that helps prevent the mixture from turning into a solid pineapple-coconut-popsicle, is the alcohol. It changes the freezing point of the mixture, helping to keep it soft.

No-churn pina colada ice cream | Hello Victoria

Make sure that you use a good rum for this recipe, as it’s a pretty strong flavor. I may have used some cheap Nepali rum that we had around the flat, and I don’t think it really added to the overall flavor. The original recipe called for Malibu coconut rum, but I just added some more coconut extract to compensate. Use whatever you happen to have around – or feel like buying.

Now, you don’t need any real coconut to make this, but if you’re interested, I’ve got a tip for you. Ever wondered how to cut a coconut perfectly in half? Simply hit the coconut around the middle line with the back of a large knife (I know, feels dangerous – no?). Depending on how thick the shell is, this might take a fair few passes around the coconut. Once you’ve done it enough times, you’ll hear a sudden change in the sound the knife makes. You’ll notice a thin crack forming around the line you’ve been banging, and if you keep going it’ll widen to completely separate in half! Feel free to drain out the coconut water once the crack is wide enough, before dividing it in two. It’ll help keep the coconut hairs out of the water.

No-churn pina colada ice cream | Hello Victoria

Once you’ve got your two pieces, you can remove the flesh from the inside by prying a butter knife or spoon under the flesh. The shells can make cool bowls if you so desire – simply saw/sand the edge smooth, as well as the inside and outside, to remove all the hairs. You can then turn them into plant pots, and bird feeders, or use them as bowls! I’m collecting all the shells from the coconuts I eat in the hope of making some small snack bowls.

You must be thinking “Who eats enough coconuts to make a set of bowls?”, but clearly you don’t know me. My dad can attest that I constantly begged him to buy coconuts as a child. And seeing as how one coconut is less money than a small container of meat, why not? After all, the flesh isn’t just good for eating – you can toast shavings made with a vegetable peeler to make fancy toppings!

No-churn pina colada ice cream | Hello Victoria

But enough about coconuts – it’s no churn ice cream time! Now the only thing to do is try and come up with some other recipes using the same concept. Add some alcohol and different flavors and see what we come up with! Bailey’s ice cream? Beer? The options are endless…

No-Churn Pina Colada Ice Cream

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 1 loaf tin of ice cream

Ingredients
  

  • 125 ml pineapple juice
  • 80 ml rum coconut or other
  • 1 drop – 1tsp coconut extract*
  • 2 tsp lime juice
  • 100 g icing sugar
  • 500 ml double cream

Instructions
 

  • Pour the pineapple juice and rum into a large bowl. Add the coconut flavouring and lime juice.
  • Whisk the icing sugar into the juice until dissolved.
  • Whisk in the cream and keep whisking until soft peaks form.
  • Taste to see if you need more coconut flavouring or a squeeze more lime juice. Keep in mind that frozen desserts always have a milder flavor and are less sweet once frozen.
  • Spoon and smooth the ice cream into an airtight container and freeze.

Notes

*Adjust the amount of coconut extract depending on if you are using coconut rum.
Recipe adapted from Nigella.com (https://www.nigella.com/recipes/no-churn-pina-colada-ice-cream)

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