Pina Colada Sherbet

I've always enjoyed the taste of pina coladas, specifically the combination of pineapple and coconut.  I can remember ordering a virgin pina colada my sophomore year in high school at a luau my family decided to go to in Maui.  We were there for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary and I specifically remember the drink coming in a hollowed out pineapple (it was so cool!).  Now every time I drink a pina colada or make anything pineapple-coconut related it brings me back to that warm evening on the island.  It's nostalgic.

I made coconut cupcakes with a vanilla-almond cream cheese frosting for a friend's bridal shower last weekend and I only ended up using one can of coconut milk instead of two so it worked out perfectly that I had all of the ingredients already on hand for this sherbet.


Pina Colada Sherbet
Makes about 1 1/2 Quarts

Ingredients:
1 pineapple, peeled and cored (4 cups, 1 liter puree)*
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) Thai coconut milk**
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions:

Cut the pineapple into chunks.  Puree in a blender with the sugar, coconut milk, and lime juice until smooth.  Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

*I used two cans of pineapple chunks in their own juice.  Simply puree the pineapple first, then make sure you only have 4 cups remaining in your blender before proceeding with the additional ingredients (my two cans of pineapple yielded ~5 cups puree).  I do recommend using fresh pineapple though and plan to do so in the future.

**You can find canned coconut milk in the ethnic isle of your local grocery store.  This is not the same thing as coconut water.

Source: adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz