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The French word “parfait” means “perfect”, and that’s exactly what you’ll think about this French Style Coconut Parfait. This Frozen Parfait is absolutely divine. In America, we think of parfaits as a layered yogurt dessert. Well, you are in for a treat with this traditional parfait. Your spoon is waiting!
I’m honored to partner with Milk Means More to bring you this fabulous recipe. As always, all opinions are my own.
Frozen Parfait
We absolutely love homemade ice cream at our house. We have one of those ice cream makers and mostly use it in the summer.
But this frozen parfait is not your typical ice cream. Oh don’t get me wrong, I love almost all ice cream, but this? It’s richer, creamier, like frozen custard. Bonus–you don’t need an ice cream maker to make it!
My goal is to have Ice-Cream Sundays every week in the summer. It’s a fun way to gather with the family at the end of the weekend. We didn’t do it quite that often last year, so I guess I’ll have to work on that goal again! Have trouble getting your kids to the table? Just whip up a parfait! 😉
Okay, so there’s really only a few steps to this recipe.
- Toasting coconut
- Making the whipped cream
- beating the egg yolks
- Making the syrup.
Tips for success~
- Keep an eye on the coconut! It burns easily.
- You need to beat the eggs for a really long time, both before and after you add the syrup. Before, you want a really pale yellow. After, you’re looking for the mixture to ‘bloom’, it will double in size. Get lots of air in their for the ultimate texture.
- Invest in a candy thermometer. It’s a really handy tool, and it ensures recipe success (ask me how I know). I got mine at my local grocery for about $3.00.
A couple notes~
- My French Style Coconut Parfait may appear much more yellow in color than yours. This is because I used fresh eggs (meaning from my friend’s chickens), and the yolks are typically much brighter in color than the store bought.
- I also used pure cane sugar which is not pure white.
- The recipe will blow your socks off no matter which eggs or sugar you use. 🙂
Are you ready to rock this recipe?
French Style Coconut Parfait
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup toasted coconut plus more for garnishing
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- chocolate syrup for serving
- Fresh berries for serving
Instructions
- Toast the coconut in a 300 degree oven for 2 minutes. Watch closely! Set aside
- Whisk the heavy cream and 2 tbsp of sugar on high until stiff peaks form. Place the bowl in the refrigerator to keep cold.
- Beat the egg yolks in a stand mixer on high until pale yellow, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the 2/3 cup of sugar and water in a small saucepan until it reaches 230 degrees, also known as ‘soft ball’.
- With the stand mixer still turned on, stream the syrup into the yolks and continue to beat for another 5-7 minutes. The mixture will volumize.
- Add coconut extract.
- Fold in whipped cream.
- Fold in toasted coconut.
- Pour into a loaf pan, or other container and freeze for at least 6 hours, but overnight is better.
- Before serving, invert on a platter and slice. Serve with chocolate syrup, toasted coconut, and fresh berries if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Thank you so much! Your pistachio version sounds like it will be amazing! Would love to see a picture! If you put it on social media, please tag me! @artfrommytable.
I made it twice using your recipe in 2018. Delicious stuff!
Though I confess I ruined it the second time around when I decided to experiment with some new pistachio flavoring I was eager to try out…
Now I’ll be making it again for an “ice cream cake”. It’d go in between 2 cake layers 😋
Hmmm, I think you are asking all the right questions. I made this recipe many times before posting it, and I didn’t have any issues. Because half of it was the right consistency, it doesn’t seem like a mixing problem, it sounds like you had it well incorporated. Maybe, letting the syrup go just a tad longer would be fine, but you definitely don’t want it going past the soft ball temp.
One idea is maybe it wasn’t properly mixed (even if it looked so) and so ingredients ‘sank’ that then froze fine together on the bottom, leaving the softer texture on top.
The other thought was if the freezer had anything to do with it. Was it on a higher shelf or a lower shelf, was it a deep freeze? Even so, 24 hours seems like plenty of time.
Did you place the whipped cream in the fridge until it was time to use it? Could the freshness or temperature of the eggs have something to do with it?
I think I would try to make it again and make sure your soft ball is 230°, your cream is cold and at the right consistency, and make sure things are well incorporated. Sometimes random weird things happen. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out this time. I hope you’ll try it again and let me know how it goes.
I made this yesterday. It sat almost 24 hours in the freezer before serving. It was delicious, but half (bottom in the freezer) was firm while the top half was pretty mushy, almost liquidy. Any idea what the problem might have been?
My thoughts:
1. The eggs were very well whipped, could they be over-whipped?
2. My syrup got to softball, but just barely. Did it need to go longer?
3. My whipped cream was not as stiff as I thought it was when I got ready to fold it in.
4. Maybe I didn’t fold the whipped cream in well enough?
The color was uniform as far as I could see, just texture was not.
I have never tried that, but I love the idea. Let me know if you do it and how it works out.
I wonder: could you use an unsweetened fruit juice instead of the water in the simple syrup? I am thinking pineapple or blueberry….
Love that fresh berries! Gorgeous presentation!
I literally want to put a fork through my screen right now and eat that, haha! Looks so good!
I would say this is about perfect!! What a creamy and delicious treat! How nice that you get fresh eggs, so jealous!