Coconut Ice – A Heritage Recipe Kids Can Make

Today’s article is a guest piece from my mom! She grew up in England learning all these fabulous techniques for crafts (like this fantastic ribbon flower trick) and recipes. Today she is sharing her Coconut Ice recipe!

I used to make this when I was a kid going to brownies in England.  Each week we would make candy and sell it at the meeting to raise cash for camps and activities.  This is a very easy candy to make and there is no cooking involved so it’s very safe too. You can get kids of all ages making this delicious treat.

Coconut Ice

This Coconut Ice recipe comes from my mom who learned how to make it as a child in England. It is so easy, kids of all ages can help create this delicious treat.

You only need 3 ingredients!

½ cup condensed milk

1 cup of icing sugar

1 ½ cups of desiccated coconut unsweetened

Note: Technically there is no such thing as “unsweetened condensed milk”, it is always sweetened. Condensed milk is heated with sugars until it’s the consistency of heavy cream with 11 – 12 gms of sugar per tablespoon.  Not to be confused with evaporated milk which is simply cooked to reduce the amount of water in the milk.  Sugar is often added but in much less quantities – 1 gm per tablespoon. This gives evaporated milk a much thinner consistency. They are very different products. We did try both evaporated and condensed milk in creating this recipe and condensed milk produced a much higher quality result.

Coconut Ice Directions

Prepare an 8 inch square pan by covering the inside with 2 sheets of plastic wrap.

Mix the condensed milk and the sugar in a bowl until smooth.

Add the coconut and stir until all the ingredients are blended.

Put half of the mixture into the prepared pan and press down until smooth and even.

Add two drops of red food colouring to the remainder of the mixture and mix until blended and pale pink in colour.

Place this on top of the white mixture and spread until even.

Refrigerate for two hours.

Remove from the pan onto a flat surface.

Remove the plastic wrap and slice into squares.

This Coconut Ice recipe comes from my mom who learned how to make it as a child in England. It is so easy, kids of all ages can help create this delicious treat.

I’ve also experimented with low fat evaporated milk to cut down on the amount of sugars in this recipe.  However the mixture didn’t come together in a creamy consistency so I stuck with the original condensed milk.

By the way, the difference between condensed milk and evaporated milk is that condensed milk is heated with sugars until it’s the consistency of heavy cream with 11 – 12 gms of sugar per tablespoon.  While evaporated milk is simply cooked to reduce the amount of water in the milk.  Sugar is often added but in much less quantities – 1 gm per tablespoon.  This give evaporated milk a much thinner consistency.

Want to do more?

Cut pieces of coconut ice and dip them in melted chocolate for a wonderful creamy treat that will have guests begging for more.

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Coconut Ice

A delicious, easy, no bake treat.

Supplies

  • 1/2 cup condensed milk
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut unsweetened

Instructions

  1. Prepare an 8 inch square pan by covering the inside with 2 sheets of plastic wrap.

  2. Mix the condensed milk and the sugar in a bowl until smooth.

  3. Add the coconut and stir until all the ingredients are blended.

  4. Put half of the mixture into the prepared pan and press down until smooth and even.

  5. Add two drops of food colouring to the remainder of the mixture and mix until blended.

  6. Place this on top of the white mixture and spread until even.

  7. Refrigerate for two hours.

  8. Remove from the pan onto a flat surface. Remove the plastic wrap and slice into squares.

Notes

Note: Technically there is no such thing as “unsweetened condensed milk”, it is always sweetened. Condensed milk is heated with sugars until it’s the consistency of heavy cream with 11 – 12 gms of sugar per tablespoon.  Not to be confused with evaporated milk which is simply cooked to reduce the amount of water in the milk.  Sugar is often added but in much less quantities – 1 gm per tablespoon. This gives evaporated milk a much thinner consistency. They are very different products. We did try both evaporated and condensed milk in creating this recipe and condensed milk produced a much higher quality result.