Red Bean Ice Lollies with Coconut Ganache Recipe

My red bean ice lollies with coconut ganache were inspired by one of my favourite Hong Kong drinks, sweet red bean ice. It was almost a fail, but ended up working super well and super delicious.

The main difficulty I had with this otherwise simple recipe was the ganache. In my mind, melted chocolate (whether tempered or not), sets solidly in the freezer. Coconut cream also sets solidly in the freezer. So a ganache made with chocolate and coconut cream should set in the freezer too, right?

As it turns out, not completely.

Because there are few reasons to freeze ganache and then eat it immediately there was little info about this online, but as it happens, ganache (made from any kind of chocolate) sets firmly but not solidly. Meaning it still has a bit of a give to it when frozen completely solid.

With this in mind, the quick flash-freezing I thought would work after dipping the red bean ice lollies in the ganache didn't work, and the bottom part of the ganache-dipped popsicles ended up sticking to the tray. However the texture was absolute perfection: the shape held up, and the ice lolly was bite-able.

The ganache did set enough to peel off cleanly from the tray when frozen overnight... but then the long freezing time after dipping made the red bean lollies too hard to bite straight from the freezer. But after five minutes of holding them they were fine (but the ganache returned to its softened state). So this one's down to preference.

Either way, these were DELICIOUS.

You can also watch how I made these on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

(Makes 6–8 red bean ice lollies, depending on the size of your moulds.)

Ingredients for Red Bean Ice Lollies:

150g dry red beans
80g caster sugar

Ingredients for Coconut Ganache:

300g white chocolate
160ml coconut cream

Method:

1. Place the red beans in a large bowl, and cover with water, making sure the water level is a few inches above the beans. Cover and leave to soak overnight.

2. Drain and rinse the beans, and place in a rice cooker or slow cooker. Add fresh water until the level of the water is twice the height of the level of the beans, and cook for two hours.

3. Transfer the cooked beans into a saucepan, add the sugar, and cook until reduced down to a thick and chunky soup (about an hour). Leave to cool completely.

4. Divide the sweet red bean soup between your ice lolly moulds, stick in the wooden lolly sticks, and freeze overnight.

5. To make the ganache, place the white chocolate and coconut cream into a heatproof bowl, and set on top of a pan of barely simmering water. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Melt and stir until well combined, and leave to cool to near room temperature (a tiny bit warm is fine).

6. Line a couple of small baking trays with kitchen foil and unmould your ice lollies. Dip them in the coconut ganache, giving each a good shake to let the excess ganache drip off, and place on the lined trays.

7. Freeze for a further half hour (your ganache will still be sticky but the red bean ice lollies soft enough to bite), or overnight again (your ganache will be set and will peel from the foil cleanly, but you'll need to wait five minute for the red bean ice lollies to be soft enough to bite).

Enjoy, and have fun.