Coconut Milk in a Pinch

I was baking some muffins today when I suddenly realized that I had absolutely no milk in the house at all! I usually at least have one can of coconut milk in the cabinet for just in case, but not today. So I had to do some quick thinking, and luckily I had a bag of shredded coconut in the freezer, thus I made some coconut milk from scratch real quick to be able to finish my muffins.

Ingredients:

• Shredded Coconut (see note 1)
• Water

Directions:

1. Put the shredded coconut into a blender, pressing lightly so its mostly at the bottom. 
2. Add water just until the coconut it covered.
3. Puree until the liquid looks thick like milk, from 2-5 minutes. (see note 2)
4. Strain the coconut mixture into a medium sized bowl using a fine mesh strainer. (see note 3)
5. Once drained, return the coconut solids to the blender. (check the bottom of the strainer, there may be a fair amount of solids clinging there - add them to the blender too.)
6. Repeat steps 2-5 about 5-6 times, until the milk produced is starting to look pretty thin.
7. Gently stir the coconut milk in the bowl, for an even consistency, then pour into air-tight containers (I used mason jars) and store in the refrigerator. Shake well before use. Use within a week. (see note 4)

Notes:

1. No matter how much coconut you have, the directions are the same. One 2-1/2 cup package of shredded coconut milk produced about 2 pints of coconut milk for me.
2. You may have to stop your blender every couple minutes to let the motor cool so that you do not burn it out. Mine I have to stop for about 30 seconds every 2 minutes. If it starts to smell burnt - thats when to stop the blender and let your motor rest.
3. I fin it most effective to press the coconut solids up against the sides of the strainer with a rubber spatula, pressing gently to force the liquid out.
4. What about those leftover coconut solids? You can put them in a zip-lock bag and freeze them until you need coconut in a recipe (I'd go 50/50 with fresh shredded coconut as these wont have as strong of a flavour). OR place the leftover coconut solids into a food processor and whir away until they form a light version of coconut butter (I haven't tried this, but in theory it might work).