Toasted coconut ice cream is fool-proof sweet, creamy coconut vanilla ice cream with the nutty goodness of freshly toasted coconut. It’s perfection in simplicity in ice cream form, friends.

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

To make this coconut lover’s ice cream, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• heavy cream
• whole milk
• sugar
• kosher salt
• vanilla extract
• coconut extract
• toasted coconut

The most popular question I get is whether it’s possible to make ice cream without a machine. The answer is YES. You can make ice cream without a machine. Find the full directions here!

With over 100 ice cream recipes here to choose from, there’s sure to be an ice cream for everyone! If you’re new to making ice cream, the best and easiest vanilla ice cream is a great place to start.

These are my favorite inexpensive containers for storing ice cream. They’re perfect for gifting (who doesn’t love homemade ice cream?) storage, re-using, etc. I write the flavors on the lids with a sharpie and it washes off with dish soap.

I have more ice cream scoops than I can keep track of at this point and I definitely play favorites. This ice cream scoop does the best job ever of cutting through firm ice cream and still delivers a pretty scoop. It gets bonus points for being one of the least expensive scoops I own as well.

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Learn how to unlock intense flavor, crisp texture, and beautiful golden brown color when you learn how to toast coconut. Toasting coconut gives it a nuttiness, sweetness, and complexity that dried coconut lacks – and it’s so easy to do, too!

How to Toast Coconut

Previously I relied on toasting coconut in the oven and in the microwave. Those methods work as well, but lack some of the control of the stovetop method.

The stovetop is my favorite for being able to closely watch and delivering the extra crispy bits. Since I love the crispy bits the most, this method wins for me every time now.

And once you have had freshly toasted coconut, the world is your oyster! Anywhere you’d use plain coconut in a dessert, swap in the toasted coconut for added oomph!

Use it in recipes like Coconut Cookie Bars: chocolate and toasted coconut stuffed inside chewy blondies, could any dessert possibly make me happier? Or sub it for the sweetened coconut flakes in Coconut Rice Krispie Treats for a seriously irresistible twist on classic rice krispie treats.

How to Make Toasted Coconut

To make toasted coconut, you’ll need the following items:

• non-stick skillet
• sweetened coconut flakes
• heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon
• plate

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Homemade Coconut Peanut Butter [+Video]

This is the recipe you never knew you were missing! Creamy homemade coconut peanut butter is a little bit of heaven on earth and you can make it in 5 minutes or less!

A trip to Hawaii last year was the perfect end to our daughter’s senior year of high school. We had an awesome time and came home inspired to make a few things at home, starting with the coconut peanut butter.

At Waialua Bakery in Haleiwa I sampled a coconut peanut butter that I’ve been craving ever since. In fact, if you know where I can get Coconut Peanut Butter let me know because it is sooo delicious! I immediately began testing at home and found out that 1. you need to use the right coconut, always dried, never fresh and 2. slather it on everything!!!

What Do I Need to Make Coconut Peanut Butter?

This homemade peanut butter recipe only takes 5 ingredients and I love knowing exactly what is going into a recipe. Here is what you will need:

• Bare Toasted Coconut Chips: These can be found at most grocery stores – Walmart, Kroger, Harmon’s, Target, and Amazon of course!
• Unsalted Dry Roasted Peanuts: Make sure the peanuts are roasted and not raw and you’ll definitely want unsalted.
• Vanilla: adds flavor
• Salt: enhances all the flavors
• Brown Sugar: adds a touch of sweetness, maple sugar could also be used

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card down below. This is meant to just be an overview of items you will need.

How to Make Coconut Peanut Butter

You won’t find an easier recipe to make! Grab a blender, a rubber spatula and some measuring cups and spoons…

1. Blend: Add the coconut chips to a blender and blend until grainy.
2. Cream: Add the peanuts and blend until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides if needed to get all those peanuts blended.
3. Finish: Add the few remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

The recipe card can be found down below with all the ingredients and instructions. You can also print or save the recipe there.

How to Use Coconut Peanut Butter

I use this peanut butter with coconut wherever I can think of. It is so dang good! My typical go-to is on top of lightly toasted multi-grain bread. Sometimes I just have the toast plain with the peanut butter only and other times I’ll load it up with sliced fruit and other toppings. Here are some other ideas:

• Add it to a smoothie in place of peanut butter (or other nut butter) like our Read more

Pineapple coconut cake is a rich white cake full of pineapple flavor and just a hint of coconut, layered with a velvety smooth, indulgent coconut cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with toasted coconut. It’s the perfect dessert for coconut and pineapple lovers alike. 

Pineapple Coconut Cake

Handy canned pineapple and a splash of coconut milk make this special cake reminiscent of a Pina Colada. You already know how much I love a well-stocked pantry and these are two foods that you will always find in my kitchen.

This is not your average pineapple cake. The pineapple is pureed and mixed into the actual white cake batter so you get the tropical flavor in every bite. The resulting batter was so moist and pineapple-y that I could hardly believe it.

Coconut Frosting

In a nod of understanding to all of the people who can’t get past the texture of coconut, this is a smooth frosting flavored with creamy coconut milk. This gives the frosting a subtle coconut taste without the texture that some might find off-putting.

The higher fat content in canned coconut milk makes the frosting nice and creamy. Use the full fat variety of canned coconut milk rather than the lite or reduced-fat versions for the best results.

The coconut milk gets blended with cream cheese and powdered sugar to become a creamy sweet cake frosting that’s worth licking the spoon for. Please note that refrigerated coconut milk will not work in this recipe.

When making the easy coconut cake frosting, be sure to only beat the cream cheese in with the rest of ingredients until just combined. If you beat it for too long, the icing is prone to become runny no matter how much more powdered sugar you add.

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Chocolate Covered Coconut Balls {6 Ingredients!!}

Chocolate covered coconut balls are a recipe from my childhood. My mom would make them every year for Christmas to take around to our friends and neighbors. I didn’t like them at all. Haha! Oh how things change!

Is there an age you reach that you start looking backward instead of forward or is this just a me thing? I’ve been very nostalgic lately and it seems to grow more and more so as the years move on.

Yes, I still hope and dream. I still am loving life and where it’s taking me, but I’ve found this fondness for time and our stories. As a little girl I had no idea that the past little moments would one day be big ones to me. Coconut chocolate balls were absolutely not on my radar as ever mattering. In fact, I hated them, but there’s a reason they are here.

Home was a Safe Haven

I grew up on a very small private road in Vancouver, Washington. Our street was shaped like the letter T. You entered at what would be the bottom of the T and drove down until you had to go left or right. I was off to the right and I can still see our big rhododendron bushes lining our yard and the way the fog hung in the air as we walked to school each morning.

Every Christmas, lights would appear on houses and Christmas trees in windows and as I wandered home from school careful to not walk too close on the right where the huge mean poodles lived, and quick to walk past a field on the left where occasionally the rottweilers got out of their fence and would chase us barking and nipping at our buns (it was horrifying to say the least) I would picture all of the goodies Mom would be standing at the kitchen island making.

As a kid you don’t really think about other kids and their homes. I just assumed all families were doing what we were. All kids were safe and happy. All moms were full time at home cleaning house and preparing wonderful meals and goodies. I know better now. I grew up in a safe haven. A place of love and peace. I find myself looking back as the mother of children now and understanding what I am to create and who I am to be because of these memories of my family.

Connecting in the Kitchen

Peanut butter balls were my favorite. All dipped in chocolate like a Reese’s peanut butter cup. But every year Mom made a batch of the dreaded coconut balls too. GAG!! Ugh, all those stringy strands of pungent coconut like you’re eating a hairball from our little Tabby cat.

But remember, I’m nostalgic, and looking back all while I’m circling my arms around my little ones so one day I found myself wanting to connect with our teenager and realized, she adores coconut and I have just the recipe to make with her. A grandmother’s love entered that kitchen as we rolled ball after ball of coconut. I was able to weave generations and hearts together and suddenly the hated coconut balls weren’t hated at all, but instead they became a treasure between a mother and a daughter.

What Ingredients Do I Need for Chocolate Covered Coconut Balls?

Sometimes all you need is a few simple ingredients