Lewis County Herald - Serving Hohenwald, Lewis County Tennessee Since 1898

You don't see lemon paired with coconut often, nor do you see a simple, elegant cake assembled so easily with crushed shortbread cookies and ice cream.

And here's the best part: the shortbread can be substituted with your favorite sugar cookie, ginger cookie, or lemon cookie.

If you do substitute, choose a cookie at least 2 inches in size, so it will line and fill the border of your springform pan.

A note about springform pans: these are amazing pans to have in your cooking arsenal, and relatively cheap to purchase. You can customize amazing ice cream cakes of any flavor with a springform pan. I also make my Mom's favorite peanut butter pie in my springform, as well as a few pasta dishes. Enjoy!

YIELD: 16 servings.

Ingredients:

1 package (11.2 ounces) shortbread cookies

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

1/4 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped and toasted

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 can (15 ounces) cream of coconut

1/2 cup lemon juice

1-1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

Optional: Fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberries

Directions:

1. Reserve 10 cookies for decoration. Crush remaining cookies; transfer to a bowl. Stir in coconut, macadamia nuts and lemon zest. Reserve 2 tablespoons crumb mixture for topping. In a large bowl, whisk cream of coconut and lemon juice until combined. Stir in softened ice cream until smooth. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping.

2. Sprinkle 1 cup crumb mixture onto bottom of a greased 9-in. springform pan. Top with half the ice cream mixture. Layer with remaining 1 cup crumbs and ice cream mixture. Place reserved whole cookies around edge of pan. Top with remaining 2-1/2 cups whipped topping; sprinkle with reserved 2 tablespoons crumb mixture. Freeze, covered, until firm, at least 8 hours or overnight. If desired, serve with berries.

Editor's Note:

To toast nuts and coconut, bake in separate shallow pans in a 350° oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

Recipe: Janet Gill

Photo: Taste of Home