Fun with Gelatin: Coconut Vanilla Bean

How much more gelatin do I have, you ask?  Plenty.  And I found a picture of this dessert on Google Images when I was looking for gelatin desserts and then I never found it again, so I’m making this up as I go along.

Let’s infuse some stuff first, shall we?

Take yourself 4 cups coconut water (not to be confused with coconut milk or cream) and pour that in a smallish pot.  Mmm, electrolytes …

Grab a vanilla bean (I also have plenty of those, so I used a big one and then a half piece) and slice it open to reveal all the goodness. Scrape the seeds into the coconut water and chuck the bean pods in after it.  Depending on whether or not your coconut water is sweetened, you might want to add some sweetener, but not too much, maybe 1/2 cup granulated sugar at most.

Bring the coconut water to a simmer, stirring until all the sugar is dissolved and it’s starting to bubble at the edges.  Turn off the heat, put a lid on it, and leave it to cool.

Take about 1 cup of the cooled stuff and put it in the fridge until it’s cold.  Then take 2 envelopes unflavoured gelatin (that’s 2 1/2 teaspoons each) and sprinkle that over top the chilled coconut water.  Let that sit for 5 minutes or so.

Return the rest of the coconut water to the heat and let it just come to a boil.  Pour the boiling coconut water over your gelatin (keep the vanilla bean pieces from falling in, though) and stir like crazy until the gelatin is entirely dissolved.

Pour the resulting mixture into a wide shallow dish and chill until set, at least 4 hours. Try to agitate the vanilla bean seeds so they’re not all sitting in one spot.

Unmould your set gelatin by setting your dish in warm water for a few seconds and then inverting it onto a cutting surface.  Cut that sucker up with cookie cutters or something.

I would do that if I hadn’t packed mine.  I can only cut it with a knife.  So I will live vicariously through you instead.  DO IT.

Then serve. We found ours was best with a little sweetened whipped cream. Yum!