Coconut Snowmen

For dessert, we made these little coconut snowmen. They were very cute, but you have be ready to get your hands cold. The crucial step is to get them into the freezer fast.

We did do a few things differently:
1. Some of the kids didn't like coconut, so we rolled the ice cream in pecans or mini chocolate chips.
2. Obviously we didn't make the marzipan noses, we just used mini chocolate chips for the face and buttons. (The kids didn't like licorice either.) And we couldn't find chocolate wafers, so our hats didn't have brims. (oh well)
3. We also made a chocolate sauce to set the snowmen in. This added an extra layer of sugary goodness, but next time I would just buy some hot fudge.
4. The best tip I can give you is to use a wooden skewer to secure the ice cream balls. We put a skewer in the middle of the large ice cream ball and built up from there.

Overall everything turned out really good and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

The cool thing about this recipe is I have had it for 5 years in my binder of Martha recipes and have wanted to make it. Martha had Susan Lucci and her daughter Liza Huber, on her show, and they had tried to make the snowmen once, and it didn't go very well. Martha showed them how to make them, which in turn made me want to make them. So there you have it....


Coconut Snowmen
(makes 4 snowmen)

2 1/2 pints best-quality vanilla ice cream
2 seven-ounce packages coconut
Orange food coloring
1 tablespoon marzipan (1/4 ounce)
40 Sen Sen licorice candies
4 marshmallows
4 chocolate wafers
Sifted confectioners’ sugar

1. Line a baking pan that fits in your freezer with parchment paper. Scoop the vanilla ice cream, rounding scoops as much as possible, until you have 4 of each size, and place on the prepared baking pan. Place the pan in the freezer to harden for 15 minutes.

2. Remove the ice cream from the freezer, and roll in coconut. Return to pan, then return the pan to the freezer. Add orange food coloring to marzipan until carrot color is attained. Shape marzipan into small carrot shapes, using a paring knife to make ridges. Remove 1 small scoop of ice cream at a time from the freezer, and make faces using Sen Sen for eyes and mouth and marzipan carrots for the nose. Return to freezer until ready to serve.

3. Remove middle-size scoops from the freezer one at a time; place Sen Sen in a row down the front to create buttons. Remove remaining scoops from freezer, and stack to create snowmen, pressing slightly to adhere. Return snowmen to freezer.

4. Make the top hats by roasting marshmallows on skewers over a gas burner. Alternatively, place marshmallows on a baking sheet under the broiler, and cook until browned, rotating every few seconds. Place the toasted marshmallow on the chocolate wafer, and dust with sifted confectioners’ sugar. Place the hat on the snowmen just before serving.

Note: To make these snowmen, you will need three ice-cream scoops in varied sizes. Shoestring licorice cut into small pieces can also be used for the buttons, eyes, and mouth. This recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living (December 2000).