RASPBERRY & VANILLA COCONUT ICE

I made this and gave it to friends for Christmas.  It was a pretty treat to make and share and although I have made coconut ice before, it made a real difference to the flavour adding the raspberries!  

It would be great for a party or baby shower too!  It is quite sweet so I would suggest cutting the pieces into bite size… see what you think though! 

Oh and this is a Donna Hay recipe, taken from the December 2013 edition of Donna Hay Magazine.

What you need

1.28kg icing sugar (I told you it was sweet!)

6 cups (480g) desiccated coconut

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

1½ cups (460g) sweetened condensed milk (I recommend adding about ¼ cup extra to the vanilla mix so maybe have 1¾ cups at hand)

1 cup (140g) frozen raspberries, thawed

a few drops of red food colouring

How to make it

Lightly grease and/or line a slice tray with baking paper (20cm x 30cm x 3.5cm).

Place half of the sugar, half of the coconut and the vanilla in a large bowl.  Add 1¼ cups (I recommend adding 1½ cups) of the sweetened condensed milk and mix well to combine.  The mixture will be quite compact.  

Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface (or you can turn it onto a piece of baking paper).  Knead until smooth.  Press evenly into the base of the prepared slice tray.

Place the remaining sugar and coconut in a large bowl.  Add the raspberries and food colouring and, using your fingers, rub the mixture until the raspberries are well combined.  Add the remaining sweetened condensed milk and mix to combine.  You will notice this raspberry mixture is quite a bit more sticky than the vanilla mixture.  Don’t worry though!

The recipe says to turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and knead until combined.  I just did this in the bowl as I was worried about the food colouring on the bench!  When combined, press the raspberry mixture into the slice tin on top of the vanilla mixture.  Smooth it out until it is evenly covering the vanilla layer.

Cover with glad wrap (cling film) and refrigerate for 3 – 4 hours or overnight.  

When you are ready to cut it, simply turn the slice out onto a bread board and cut it into squares.