Mature coconutsthe amount is up to you. I used 9 to make a large jar of coconut cream
Instructions
The first step for either method: Opening the coconuts
To keep the coconut shells 100% intact (to make coconut bowls), use a small handheld saw and cut them open through the middle. Do this over a bowl, to collect the coconut water. Otherwise, Begin by extracting the coconut water from the coconuts. You can do this by using a screwdriver, nail, or similarly sharp tool and create holes in the coconut eyes, to drain the water (which you can drink straight or add to smoothies).
You can then put the coconut shells with the flesh in the oven for 20 minutes at 170ºC/325ºF. This is optional but it makes it easier for the flesh to come out of the shells. Alternatively use a knife, spoon, or coconut tool.
You can peel the brown skin off the coconut flesh to get a pure white coconut cream when using a juicer (not required for the blender at all). This is an optional step. *
Method 1: Using a blender
Add the coconut flesh to a high speed blender/food processor and blitz to shred it. Add 4 cups of water and blend again to obtain coconut milk. ** / ***
Pass the blended coconut milk through a nut milk bag and squeeze out all the liquid. ****
Pour the coconut milk into a big jar and set aside so that the creamy part separates from the watery liquid part and rises to the top. Using a dispenser tap jar works great as you can then easily remove the liquid part.
Scoop out the coconut cream. Or, if using a dispenser tap jar, pour out the watery part and place in a smaller jar/container.
Optional step: to make thicker cream, refrigerate overnight. It will separate further, to make even creamier cream on top. Scoop out the cream and it's ready to use.
Method 2: Using a juicer
Pass pieces of coconut fresh through a juicer. For a pure white cream, peel off the brown skin in advance.
The coconut cream comes out in the juice container, low-fat shredded coconut comes out in the pulp container.
Your coconut cream is ready to use immediately or can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Notes
* this brown part can be eaten as a snack, added to smoothies, etc.** For a creamier version, that uses dairy. You could swap out the water for semi-skimmed milk instead. *** Depending on how many coconuts you are blending, you might have to do this multiple times. Not all the coconut flesh will fit in the blender if you're making a massive batch. Also, it will be harder for the machine to blend very big amounts at once. **** You can keep the remaining shredded coconut and dry it either at low temperature in the oven or out in a sunny well-aired corner/window sill.