This is a simple preparation which will extract the best coconut flavor as well as its texture. I love watching people who think they do not like coconut find this gelato delicious. Give it a try and you too will be able to surprise your guests!
Place the ice-cream maker bowl and serving bowls in the freezer
Mix all the powders together in a bowl: sugar, skim milk, dextrose and the stabilizers (be careful with the stabilizers, only a few grams are necessary and it is hard to weigh them on a regular scale, one that measure the fraction of a gram would be preferable. Anyway, if in doubt, less is better then more).
Pour the milk and cream over the powders and mix with a hand whisk at first and then switch to the immersion blender once they ingredients have been combined, blend away for about 5 minutes, this will payoff in the end by making your gelato even creamier and smoother. Put the mixture into a saucepan, add the coconut flakes, put on medium heat and bring to 185˚ whilst mixing the whole time to avoid burning some of the concoction (if you let it boil the milk and cream will lose flavor and water).
Turn off the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid and let it infuse for 20 minutes.
With a medium sized mesh strainer remove about half the coconut flakes With the back of a spoon or ladle press as much milk out of the flakes back into the mixture, it’s packed with flavor!. With the immersion blender reduce the size of the coconut flakes in the mixture, if they are too large or too many they become unpleasant, in my opinion.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover it carefully with plastic film an put it in the refrigerator for 6 hours (or until it reaches 42˚ F if you are in a hurry, it can easily stay there for 24 hours though). You must cover it carefully because it could pick up undesirable aromas from your refrigerator.
Once the batch has cooled, mix it with it well with a whisk before placing it in the ice cream maker.
It should take about 20 minutes for the ice cream maker to do its job, once the gelato has reached maximum thickness remove it from the bowl and place it in the freezer for a few minutes to finish hardening before serving it, be your own judge of when you think it’s ready. You can put it in your freezer for later use, this will make it harder, but you can wait a few minutes with in the refrigerator and it will return to a consistency approximating its original.
The gelato will be delicate and must be served in frozen bowls.
Chocolate goes really well with this flavor, you can serve it with chocolate gelato, just spoon some melted chocolate over it before serving, or pour chocolate syrup or sauce over it.