In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, honey, salt and vanilla seeds as well as the empty pods (we’ll fish them out later). Whisk until thoroughly combined.
Bring to a soft boil over medium-low heat, stirring often.
In the meantime, place the egg yolks in a large heat proof bowl that can also be used as a double boiler.
Once the coconut milk mixture has come to a boil, pour it in a steady stream over the egg yolks while whisking constantly. It’s important that you do not stop whisking; otherwise you run the risk of cooking the yolks from the heat of the milk alone.
Place this mixture over a double boiler and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens and forms a smooth custard that coats the back of a spoon (about 10 to 15 minutes).
If you are feeling comfortable, you can also do this directly in a saucepan over low heat, but remember: the custard mixture can never be allowed to simmer or boil, else the yolks will cook and curdle. It just needs to heat up until the temperature reaches about 175°F (80°C) and/or coats the back of a spoon.
When the custard is ready, take it off the heat, place a fine mesh sieve over a large empty bowl and pour the custard right through to catch the empty vanilla pods and any other lumpy bits. Help the custard down with a rubber spatula and don’t forget to scrape the underside of the sieve!
Add the toasted coconut butter and stir until well incorporated. Refrigerate overnight, or for a minimum of 8 hours.
Churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
To make the fried ice cream
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Working as quickly as you can, form the ice cream into 10-12 individual balls and place them onto the prepared cookie sheet. Don’t worry about shaping the balls perfectly at this point; you will get to do that later. Place the ice cream balls in the freezer until frozen solid. (about an hour)
In a food processor, add the shredded coconut, slivered almonds, salt and cinnamon and process into a “coarse-sand-like” mixture. Transfer that into a shallow bowl.
Take your ice cream balls out of the freezer and dump them, one at a time, into the coconut / almond mixture. Cover them completely, and, working rather quickly again, press the mixture on the balls with your hands, forcing it to adhere to the ice cream and forming them into perfect spheres as you go.
Put these back in the freezer until frozen solid once again.
Hold on to whatever coconut / almond mixture you have left, you will need it for the final step.
Once your ice cream balls have hardened once again, whisk the egg whites in a medium sized mixing bowl until thick and frothy.
Quickly run each ice cream ball in the egg whites, then roll them in the leftover coconut / almond mixture.
Place the finished balls back in the freezer and let them freeze solid one last time.
Your ice cream is now ready to be fried and at this point, it can be kept in the freezer for several weeks, until craving strikes.
When that happens, heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan or wok, until it registers 350°F on a candy thermometer. The more oil you use, the easier the frying process will be, but I’ve successfully fried my ice cream (one ball at a time) using as little as 1 cup of oil.
Dump the balls one or two at a time (depending on how much oil you are using) and fry them until nice and golden brown all around, turning the balls as necessary.