Overcoming My Fear of Coconuts, with Chocolate Coconut Cashew ice cream

I have been resistant to use coconut meat in recipes, both because the young coconuts you need for the recipes are a pain to hack into, and because they are expensive.

But last week, I wanted to make a decadent desert for my hubby's birthday, and decided to try chocolate ice cream with a rich coconut and cashew base. It was a special occasion, so I could justify the cost and effort...and actually, the effort didn't turn out to be horrible, and we had delicious ice cream for several days. A little more than Ben & Jerry's would run you, but better for you and deeeeeeelish.

I kind of based my recipe on how much coconut was easy to scrape out...the hubby attacked the more difficult to reach leftover coconut meat for breakfast. You could go without chocolate here if you want to make vanilla ice cream, add some fruit, whatever.

I won't begin to try to describe how I broke into the coconuts. Youtube has several instructional videos...I pretty much just hacked until I pried open a hole, drained the coconut water, and hacke until I could pry off the top of the coconut, and spoon out the meat. I didn't keep the coconut water, because it had turned a little brown, as if a little air had gotten to it, but the meat still tasted fresh, and was white like it should be.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup fresh coconut meat (1-2 coconuts, depending on their size and how much meat they contain)

1 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours (they measured 1 cup prior to soaking), then drained

1 cup water (use the coconut water if it is good)

1/2 cup raw cacao powder (more if you like a stronger cocoa flavor)

1/4 cup agave, or a little more to taste (you could also blend dates with a little water if you prefer not to use the agave)

Teaspoon of vanilla extract (if you don't object to using it) or fresh vanilla beans scraped from the pod

Blend all ingredients in a blender until completely smooth, stopping frequently to scrape down sides and making sure that the blender doesn't heat the mixture.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker, and follow instructions from there...If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can make this as a pudding, with less water. Start with 1/4 cup or so, and see how much you need to make it pudding-y.

I made a thick chocolate syrup to top the ice cream with a mixture of 1 part cocoa:1 part coconut oil, and a little agave, to taste. You could layer that into a container with the ice cream, and refreeze, and call it fudge ripple!

This ice cream was a total hit. It was amazing and creamy and just terrific.

And, I've overcome my fear of coconuts, at long last!