These coconut treats are quick and easy to make and is sure to impress your Valentine!
Coconut Ice is a British confectionary. It was developed in the 1960’s in post-war England when sugar was in abundance. Coconut ice has a soft, chewy texture and traditionally only white, but can be also be coloured, i.e. two-tone, etc. The origin of the word “ice” is not known, but could be because it looked like compressed ice!
4 x 250 ml icing sugar
4 x 250 ml desiccated coconut
2.5 ml cream of tartar
1 ml salt
2.5 ml coconut essence (optional)
1 x 397 g tin condensed milk
100 ml chocolate vermicelli, finely chopped (optional)
50 ml pink hundreds & thousands (optional)
few drops water
- Combine the icing sugar, coconut, cream of tartar, salt, coconut essence, if used, condensed milk and vermicelli or hundreds and thousands in a large mixing bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Add a few drops of water if the mixture is too stiff. It should have the consistency of play dough.
- Press the mixture into a silicon mould with heart shapes (see photo below).
- Alternatively, transfer the coconut-ice mixture to a Wizbake baking sheet and cover with a 2nd Wizbake baking sheet.
- Roll to the required thickness, about 0.5 cm works well.
- Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter and cut shapes out of the coconut-ice.
- Re-roll leftover mixture and repeat the process.
- Place the shapes in a single layer on a baking tray and refrigerate to harden.
- Once the coconut-ice has hardened, paint one half or one side of the shapes with melted chocolate or drizzle with melted chocolate.
Makes 40 to 60 shapes
Variations
Two-tone Coconut Ice
- Divide the mixture in half and add food colouring to the one half of the mixture, i.e. either pink or red.
- Press the coloured half of the mixture onto a baking tray lined with a Wizbake baking sheet and top with the other colour, e.g. white on top of pink.
- Refrigerate to harden, transfer to a chopping board and cut into squares or cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.
Coconut Ice Lollies
- Press the mixture into a lolie silicon mould. Serve as is or paint melted chocolate on the back (see photo below).
