Beat the Heat with Coconut Ice Cream

Egg frying on pavement.  Must be really hot!

It is July in the Desert Southwest, and high time I complain about the weather!  Most of the time I downplay the extreme summer heat that characterizes my region of the country, scoffing at friends and family who live in more temperate areas, such as Los Angeles, Quebec, and London, for being wusses (but silently envying them). 

This is life in El Paso, Texas when the temperature hovers around 100° F almost every day. I need to drag myself out of bed around 6:00 am to enjoy the coolest part of the day. When the sun rises at about 6:30, it is already too uncomfortable to sit in the courtyard with a cup of coffee and the morning paper without some shade. 

By opening all of the doors in the house and turning on ceiling fans, I can make it through the morning by seeking out crosswinds in the house which bring some cooling. Maybe I can tame the electric utility bill by waiting a few more hours to turn on air conditioning, I think hopefully.

As the afternoon wears on, growing hotter and hotter, I can feel my body and mind slowing down.

Is this why people who live in the tropics are supposedly less productive?   I begin to feel zombie-like. By the time I close up the house and turn on the two energy-gulping swamp air conditioners around mid-afternoon, all I can think of is getting cool.  Nighttime, even with the expensive luxury of leaving one air conditioner running, is still an endurance test of human against nature.   At about 4:00 am,  Mother Nature takes pity on us and lowers the temperature to the 70's. to allow for a few hours of decent slumber.

In order to survive the heat, I decided recently that what I needed was summer comfort food. Forget dieting, eating sensibly, and watching cholesterol count.  What I needed was a big bowl of coconut ice cream.

And the recipe had to be quick and easy.  It's too hot to work very hard.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com and has just three ingredients, one of which is even optional. First, buy one 14 ounce can of cream of coconut.  Finding cream of coconut is not easy, but I finally located it in the drinks and mixers section of a neighborhood Walmart. (Don't buy coconut milk, which will not work in this recipe). Combine the cream of coconut in a blender with one and one-half cups of heavy cream. Don't bother to check the calorie or fat content on the label of these products. You may get the guilts!

I chilled this mix in the fridge for about eight hours and then used an attachment to my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to make ice cream.  True coconut lovers can use sweetened flaked coconut, toasted or plain, as an optional topping.

The first spoonful of coconut ice cream took me back to a long ago vacation on the beach in Mexico - white sands, swaying palm trees, Latin music, and the gentle lapping of waves.

 Ahh.  It's not that hard to beat the heat with a bowl of coconut ice cream and a little imagination!