Coconut Milk Ice Cream

When this comes right out of the ice cream maker, it tastes a lot like I remember Dairy Queen soft serve tasting when I was growing up!  This is a good, basic vanilla ice cream flavor.  My taste testers either couldn't tell it'd been made from coconut milk or thought they could detect a slight pleasant coconut taste.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

3 cans Trader Joe's Lite Coconut Milk (only ingredients are coconut milk and water)
2/3 cup organic sugar
1 Tablespoon homemade vanilla

Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the sugar.  Bring to a simmer and keep simmering, stirring occasionally, for 1/2 hour.  Cool to room temp and then add the vanilla.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Process in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Variations:
Use organic dark brown sugar for a caramel flavor.

For peppermint, add 1 cup dried peppermint leaves to coconut milk and sugar.  Simmer  1/2 hour, strain out leaves, cool, add vanilla.

For ginger, add 2 T thinly sliced ginger to the coconut milk and sugar.  Simmer 1/2 hour, remove the ginger pieces, cool and add vanilla.  For a spicier ginger flavor, use 1 T grated ginger and leave it in.