Low Carb Ice Cream

Low carb ice cream is something I had thought about making before but somehow never got around to. This last week, however, things changed. A family member was recently put on a low carb diet for medical reasons so suddenly the carbohydrate level of food and drink came under close scrutiny.

Where does ice cream come into this? First of all, let's take sugar. Given that sugar is a carbohydrate and that most good, palatable ice cream has a good chunk of sugar in it, then this diet simply rules out ice cream from the menu. Think about it .... a good, creamy custard base ice cream needs lots of sugar to mix with the eggs in making the custard; a good sorbet needs a syrup base which, again, requires a lot of sugar.

Now let's take milk. You might not think it but milk has plenty of carbohydrate. A cup of full cream milk has about 11g carbohydrate, a cup of light (single) cream about 7g and a cup of heavy (double) cream about 6g (it can vary from brand to brand). Most ice cream recipes need more than a cup of milk so, added to the carbs in the sugar of the ice cream mixture, this all makes for an unacceptable level of carbohydrate for a dessert when on a special, low carb diet.
Nevertheless, I was determined to make some homemade low carb ice cream. I read lots on the web, studied notes and lists from the dietician and then simply looked at how I could replace my usual ice cream ingredients 'like for like'. I studied one or two of my vanilla ice cream recipes and then concluded what to do.

Here's what I did ....

I made a custard base using unsweetened soya milk, egg yolks and artificial sweetener (granular form). It didn't taste anything like custard made with full cream milk and natural sugar of course BUT it still produced a nice, creamy consistency that I felt would work well in an ice cream mixture. When thoroughly chilled, I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and some heavy cream. I studied the labels carefully on all the ingredients and noted the carb level in ratio to the amount of each ingredient used. The total carbs for the whole mixture came to 32g so, logically, if I split the ice cream into 8 portions, 1 portion would have just 4g carbs. I put the mixture into my ice cream maker and waited .... 20 minutes later (5 minutes earlier than usual), my low carb vanilla ice cream ready to serve. According to my family who tried it, was 'quite acceptable'. Here it is, served with some sugar free (low carb) jelly.

More of my low carb vanilla ice cream photos

Vanilla Ice Cream: Recipe For Success With Chocolate Desserts

Vanilla ice cream is beyond doubt the best ice cream. I doubt that I will ever change my view on that!

Here is a photograph which I meant to share with you before now ... but time flies!

For Christmas dinner dessert my family wanted something 'chocolatey' so I bought a rather special chocolate dessert - chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce and chocolate sponge and encased in a Belgian chocolate shell. It would have been fine on its own BUT I could let the opportunity pass by of trying it with some homemade vanilla ice cream. I made up the ice cream mixture on Christmas Eve and kept it in the refrigerator overnight so it was well chilled by the time I came to freeze it.

After the main course was finished, I simply took the mixture out of the fridge and poured it into my ice cream maker. 25 minutes later it was ready. Here it is photographed literally seconds after it came out of the ice cream maker. It doesn't get much fresher than that!

Here is the vanilla ice cream recipe I used. The reason I used vanilla extract? Simple ... I had run out of vanilla pods! It was still a great tasting ice cream though :)

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Panettone & Vanilla Ice Cream

I had a new dessert experience this week - thanks to a nice Christmas present of a delicious, traditional Panettone.

I'd had Panettone before but just on its own with a cup of coffee.

"It can be a little dry as a dessert" said my husband .... "how about some ice cream to go with it?"

I thought about it for a moment and then agreed - a simple but glorious vanilla ice cream would be the perfect accompaniment. Here it is ....

The verdict?  Delicious! Here is the vanilla ice cream recipe I used.

New Ice Cream Website To Celebrate New Year

The celebrate the New Year, I have today launched my new ice cream recipes website. Many months in the making and with an improved layout, more space for content, new photos, new recipes and special features, I hope it will serve my readership as well as the last site did.

Here's a taster of what's new in the site ....

Special feature - an exclusive interview with a French master ice cream maker or artisan glacier as he's called in France.

New ice cream sundae gallery - featuring everything from a vanilla sundae to the Eton Mess. See if you can spot Chloe the Bengal cat!

There really is so much more to ice cream than you ever thought possible!