Toasted Cream of Coconut

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I absolutely love coconut everything- but even better than plain old coconut, is toasted coconut! Toasted coconut just tastes everything taste more special and refined. It adds more complexity to cocktails and mocktails alike. It’s perfect in Piña Coladas and Blue Hawaiians.

You’ll need the following equipment: 

• Vitamix 

• Copper Strainer

• All Clad Cookware

• Gold Measuring Cups & Spoons

• Silpat

Ingredients:

• Coconut Cream

• Shredded Coconut

• Baking Soda

• Turbinado Sugar

This toasted coconut cream starts with about a 1/3 cup of shredded coconut that I will scatter in an even layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Once its lightly toasted, remove from the oven and set aside. This will surely add some of the toasted coconut flavors, but in a more subtle way. The real trick to achieving this toasty goodness is science!

Lowering the pH of the coconut cream speeds up the Maillard reaction- aka the browning of foods. I once read an article about adding a bit of baking soda to onions to brown them after for French onion soup, and figured if it works for onion, it should work for coconut milk, right?

To my cup and a half of coconut cream, I’ll add 1/8th teaspoon of baking soda to lower the pH. You don’t need to add much, if you add too much you will get kind of an unpleasant salty taste.

Now I’ll heat the coconut milk and baking soda mixture over low heat for about 5 minutes. This happens pretty fast, so keep your eye on the pot. You will notice the color start to change slightly from white to tan. Remove from the heat, then go ahead and whisk in the Demerara sugar until it dissolves- the Demerara sugar will also lend a caramelly flavor to the coconut. I recommend adding the sugar after since its brown and it will also give the cream if coconut a tan hue. Once the sugar is dissolved, I will pour the toasted coconut cream and the toasted shredded coconut into my blender and blend for about a minute. 

Once the toasted cream of coconut is thoroughly blended with the toasted shredded coconut, I’ll strain out all the large coconut particles, and the toasted coconut milk is ready to use.

This will keep for about a week in the refrigerator. 

This toasted coconut cream is great in tropical blended drinks like my all-natural Blue Hawaiian, or in tiki style drinks like my Blizzards and Bikinis nonalcoholic cocktail. You can use it in coquito, or just added to a cup of coffee. Use in almost anything anytime you want to add a little tropical flavor to your life.