One of the hardest things for me to have to give up in my journey was ice cream. I don't enjoy suffering, no matter the cause; and so for years I was making 'alternative' ice cream in my cute little Cuisnart ice cream tumbler. Alternative meaning not cane sugar but substitutes I felt were healthier such as maple syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt and so forth.
I always recognized that these are still sugars though!
Ice cream is not an exact science and is in fact very forgiving with experimentation, so here is what I have come up with in a bold stroke of genius if I do say so myself...
(Don't forget, milk is still a sugar! But one I'm willing to live with for now)
I use a Cuisinart gel tumbler ice cream maker, you can get them for $50 these days at many stores that sell kitchen goodies.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
*2 cups (light) cream (you can use heavy; I prefer to make Light)
*1 cup (skim) milk (again, use what you like)
1/2 tsp Stevia
1-2 tsp extracts (optional)
4 oz unsweetened (baking) chocolate (optional)
nuts, berries, whatever...
*you can substitute soy milk or nut milks- they have enough fat that it's ok if there's no cream. There is also a great book called Vice Cream that uses Stevia, and is vegan if that's what you're after.*
Beat the eggs.... beat in the cream, then the milk... beat in the stevia. Remember to mix the stevia well, it gets funny with fatty ingredients.
I like Mint Chocolate Chip myself, so here I add 1 tsp vanilla and 2 tsp peppermint extract.
Pour the mix into the machine, follow the manufacturer's instructions.
I wait to add nuts or berries (best if prefrozen) into the mix when it's nearly ice cream (when it's churned up to the top lip of the blade and cover).
For 'chocolate chips':
Melt the chocolate before the ice cream reaches the lip. Add 1/4 tsp stevia, stir well. Add to the ice cream when it's reached the top; the chocolate should be warm enough to flow and make little blebs, but not so hot that it's turning it all back to milk- melt, wait 5 minutes, add. It takes a little finesse, and is tough to explain, sorry... I cook like my granny did...
Freeze, and enjoy!!!
Spreading the word... life without processed sugar and flour, fake chemical sugar, life with a clear head and clear conscience...
33 comments:
I appreciate this recipe so much!
I was searching Google for a " Stevia Sweetened Ice Cream",and while I came across quite a few,most had either hard to find ingredients(raw coconut meat) or chemical-ly ingredients(low carb sugar free chocolate bar).
Your recipes seems straightforward and basic,while being the ingredients I crave,like Stevia and light cream.
I just finished making ice cream tonight,with Agave Nectar.(it turned out delicious!) Have you used this? Though,it is mostly fructose,which is still a sugar. But its low glycemic,which is something I need b/c of a medical concern.
BUT,that being said,Id love to gradually get into mostly Stevia for cooking and baking(I use it now for my teas and coffees,oatmeal and the like).
Also,have you tried Erythritol? Sounds scary(like malitol or xylitol). BUT all the research ive done on it(ALOT!) sounds like its non chemical or non artificial. It seems to be touted as much different than the other "-tols" that are known for unpleasant side effects. Ive used Erythritol w great success in baking.
Would love to hear your feedback! ;-)
Courtney
Hi Meena
I heat my egg mixture to 135 degrees while stirring to prevent possible salmonella contamination. Don't let the eggs actually cook, then let the egss cool before adding to the cream. I will try the stevia, sounds like a good idea.
Happy dancing!
Dave
Hey Courtney!
Glad you like the recipe. Yes, I've experimented a little with Agave, though not in ice cream. It is supposedly low on the glycemic index, and so better than sugar, honey or maple syrup. I'm sure it does still have an effect, however.
Erythritol... is another sugar alcohol. I have unfortunately become allergic to all 'fake' sweeteners, especially sugar alcohols. I generally stay away from them at this point since I have such bad reactions to it (bloat and colic!). No side effect? Interesting!
thanks for the input.
SO glad I came across your blog! I was just telling my daughter that I wanted to do Spring Cleaning and then buy an ice cream maker and make homemade ice cream as a reward for our hard work. I love stevia but have never made ice cream with it and was thrilled to find your easy recipe! Have you tried the flavored stevia from Sweet Leaf? We have chocolate and peppermint so we think that's what we'll make today!
I tried made the ice cream using your recipe. When I froze it, it really froze-like a solid block of ice! I don't know if I beat the cream long enough. Should it be whipped until it is stiff? I did not do that. I am using a Wilton Icer Cream Machine.
I'm sorry to hear that! It may be that there was not enough fat in the milk/ cream; that's been my experience in the past. Upping your fat keeps ice cream from freezing solid. Try that! If you follow the directions for your maker it should work out. Sometimes that kind of ice cream just freezes more solidly, I let it thaw a bit before eating it anyway.
Good luck!
Finally an easy stevia (with Soy substitute) ice cream recipe. Awesome and thank you!
i also enjoy stevia ice cream... why haven't any companies capitalized on this one, they could make BILLIONS!!! How many of us give up ice cream because its loaded with sugar? lots of us I would say. Diabetics like ice cream too, as well as PREGNANT women : ) You and me should go into business together selling stevia flavored ice cream. problem is i know nothing about the ice cream business except how to make it good and healthy. well nice to know I'm not the only one : )
Do you use no sugar added chocolate? I really want to try it but the recipe only says to use chocolate... Do you add the stevia for this reason???
I don't use anything with sugar unless it has stevia in it, so I guess this would be a problem. I would like to try just vanilla, but I really like chocolate better...
Hi! You use baking chocolate, which is unsweetened. That's why you add stevia into the chocolate as you melt it. You can find unsweetened baking chocolate in your grocery store. :D
Meena
The Stevia I have is like granulated sugar, so I'm not sure I have the right one for this recipe, I guess it's gonna be taste it and see.
Which one is the best, I get confused because there are quite a few.
Loving stevia these days, especially the new zero calorie sparkling green tea I just bought at Whole Foods, STEAZ Zero Calorie, mmmm good!
selling stevia ice cream wud still be illegal(or unapproved by FDA leading to liability) tho i hope that will soon end. i dont think we need to tax sugar just offer the alternative in prepared foods. meantime i have continued to simplify my #1 vice ice cream so heres my recipe(s). no mixer needed so any size batch is quick.
frozen berries, plain yogurt, stevia, vanilla/lemon extract/lime juice, thai kitchen coconut milk or heavy cream, shaved or crumbuled 85% cocoa bar(lindt) or baking chips.
just stir it in a bowl. berries will freeze the rest and the rest will thaw the berries. i dont measure anything and never make the same twice.
a good chocolate syrup is cocoa powder, coconut milk, stevia and vanilla.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I have a couple of questions, though. 1. I assume the stevia you used in this recipe is the Kal stevia you raved about in a previous post? Also, do you use standard (alcohol-based) extracts, or the alcohol-free type one would normally use for making ice cream?
Sure! I use the alcohol free extracts,though I imagine the regular ones would work as well. And yes, it was Kal, the only Stevia I've found that I like. Thanks for posting!
WHAT ARE EXTRACTS :-/ VANILLA?
Heya this topic is really interesting. Keep it going man !
I also make a stevia sweetened coconut milk pudding that I then freeze.
I put two cans of full fat coconut milk in the blender, add about a third of a cup of tapioca starch, stevia to taste (I use Whole Foods liquid stevia.) Then I melt a bar of baker's chocolate (organic from Whole Foods.) I pour some of the coconut milk in, stir it around to get all the chocolate, then put it back in the blender--otherwise it's grainy. Then I cook the whole thing on a low flame til it thickens. Usually I eat half of it as pudding and freeze the other half. I don't have an ice cream maker but I bet it'd be fabulous if it was churned while freezing.
I just made this last night and it was heavenly! Thank you, thank you! I love mint chocolate chip and this hit the spot. I think it was even better than any store bought brand!
I have a batch of strawberry in the Cuisinart right now, and the spoonful that I sampled, tasted great! I am new to using powdered Stevia, but I think it's going to be heavenly ;)
Outstanding read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little investigation on that.
I read to add a small amount of vodka
Add a tbsp of vodka. The alcohol keeps it from freezing solid
I read to add a small amount of vodka
This is actually the type of information I have been looking for. Thank you for posting this information.
That’s a great post. Thank you so much.
Did you use the liquid or dried version of stevia? I can't wait to try this recipe!
Do you think a combination of your recipe and David Lebovitz's Vanilla ice cream recipe would work? Google David Lebovitz vanilla ice cream recipe (uses egg yolks and some of the mix is lightly cooked into a custard). Also, your recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of Kal Stevia powder. How sweet is that relative to store-bought vanilla ice creams? I'd like to make an ice cream that is less sweet than store bought. Thanks. I'm hopeful this will work out, as I've eliminated almost all sugar from my diet, but not milk sugar in small quantities.
Hope you will continue this way, with your brilliant ability of writing
"low carb sugar free chocolate bar" is not chemical-ly -- just get some dark chocolate bar or chips -- bittersweet or 90% cacao will do, a tiny bit of sugar.
Hello all- just received a rather rudely worded comment here about the use of eggs. As it was so rude I will not post it here, but I will answer. The reader was concerned about the use of raw eggs in the recipe. I use local, free running, properly treated hens whose eggs still have their outer membrane. These eggs are perfectly safe. Salmonella concerns are linked directly to factory farmed eggs, whose hens are forced to sit in their own feces, and whose diets are far removed from what they would ideally eat. The eggs are not healthy for you either, high in Omega 6 instead of 3. Believe me, the egg from the healthy hen is a wonderful gift, and does not even need to be refridgerated if the outer membrane is intact. Now, regarding salmonella. If you are a health compromised person, by all means eliminate the eggs. Cooking the egg at a high enough temperature to kill pathogens will render the egg useless in the recipe. Know too that freezing the ice cream hard for 72 hours kills pathogens as well. I have eaten raw eggs for 5 years now, both in smoothies straight up and in ice cream, to absolutely no ill effect. Do as ye will. Thank you reader for your concern, and trust me there are far more polite ways to voice such things.
Thanks for sharing this! I've decided to try making it before I get rid of my ice cream maker. Maybe I'll decide to keep it after all! But first, I had a couple questions: 1) you said you can substitute nut/soy milks... if I wanted to make it with almond milk, would I replace the 2 cups of cream and 1 cup of milk with 3 cups of almond milk? 2) I think someone else asked this, but I didn't see the answer... do you use liquid or powder stevia?
Hi there!
Sorry for the delay in answering. When I make almond milk ice cream, I just use 3 cups of almond milk. Actually a great source for ice cream using nuts as a base is Vice Cream, a cute little book you can find on Amazon. He uses dates or maple syrup as sweeteners.
When I talk about Stevia I am indeed talking about powdered Stevia. I no longer use it as I have reactions to it (it is indeed super processed, after all). I see no reason why you couldn't use liquid stevia, though at this point I couldn't advise you on amount; add small amounts slowly, to taste.
Have fun!
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