Piña Colada Sundae – Vanilla ice cream topped with caramelized pineapple, toasted coconut, and a maraschino cherry
With days as hot as there are in July, there’s really nothing better than ice cream. Which is why it totally makes sense tat July is National Ice Cream Month. To continue to celebration of this sweet month, I’ve got a killer sundae to share. It’s my Piña Colada Sundae, made with vanilla ice cream, homemade pineapple sauce, and toasted coconut. There’s no rum in this recipe, but there’s no reason why you can’t add in a splash to make it extra fun!
Homemade pineapple sauce
The shining star of this sundae is the homemade pineapple sauce. It’s made with fresh pineapple, brown sugar, and vanilla for flavor and a little corn syrup and cornstarch to make the sauce nice and thick.
The ingredients are boiled over the stove to bring out the juices of the pineapple, which thicken up as it boils. Once it’s nice and thick, it’s removed from heat and cooled slightly before assembling the sundae.
Assembling the sundae
Once the pineapple sauce is done, the sundae is ready to assemble. Vanilla ice cream is added to serving glasses and then topped with the warm pineapple sauce. Sweetened coconut gets toasted slightly to give it a crunchy texture and then gets sprinkled over the pineapple. Finally, whipped cream and a cherry finish off this sundae.
Tips & Tricks
- When toasting the coconut, keep an eye on it. It will seem like it’s taking forever to toast and then all of a sudden, it’s totally golden brown.
- It’s important to use fresh pineapple for this recipe. Canned pineapple is soaking in syrup or juice so it’s extra sweet. As such, it will make the sauce wayyy to sweet if you use it in place of the fresh stuff.
Piña Colada Sundae
Ingredients
For the sundaes:
- ½ cup sweetened coconut
- 1 quart vanilla bean ice cream
- pineapple sauce (recipe below)
- 6 maraschino cherries
- whipped cream
For the pineapple sauce:
- 2 cups chunks fresh pineapple
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon water or pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ cup corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the pineapple sauce
- Add ingredients, except the vanilla, together in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat bowl and mix together with a spoon. Let it boil for 1 minute and then take a potato masher and mash up the pineapple to break it up and release the juices. Continue cooking until it thickens up.
- Remove from heat and add the vanilla and stir together. Set aside to cool slightly.
For the sundaes:
- Place coconut in a sauté pan and set over medium heat. Let it heat until it starts to brown and get toasty. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl to stop the toasting process.
- Spoon a few scoops of ice cream into 6 serving glasses. Top with a couple tablespoons of pineapple sauce and then sprinkle with toasted coconut. Finish with whipped cream and a cherry.
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More recipes you’ll love:
Pineapple Sorbet
Grilled Peach Sundaes
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Sundaes
Banana Bread Sundaes
My daughter and hubby absolutely loved this recipe! Such a delicious and great idea to turn a drink into a yummy ice cream treat. Can’t wait to make this again!
What a genius idea to make a drink into a sundae. Perfect flavors for summer.
that pineapple sauce is amazing!!!!! it’s perfect over vanilla ice cream
Oh yes please! I’m in. If only I could dip a spoon into the screen.
This looks so good!! What a great idea to make this into a sundae!
This looks and sounds absolutely divine! I will definitely be the one adding some rum because WOW! Can’t wait to try this!!
This looks so yummy, I love pina coladas
Oh my gosh, it’s been so long since I’ve had a pina colada. This sounds delicious and I can’t wait to give it a try this weekend!
Is there nothing more refreshing than a piña colada?! I have to try this!
This is delicious. I could not find coconut ice cream so we used vanilla bean ice cream and Parrot Bay Coconut rum. Delicious. Worth the 13 weight watcher points per serving.