I Scream, You Scream

A friend of mine sent me a message this week & asked me what I do when I crave ice cream, since I’m keto. (Shout out to Talie- who is doing AMAZING on her journey into trying out the low carb high fat lifestyle!) My answer was, “I have ice cream!”

Here’s the thing about this way of eating: there’s a solution for almost anything you’re craving, including ice cream. It’s just that you can’t drive to Dairy Queen or Ben and Jerry’s to make it happen. The other thing is that when you take the time to make this stuff from scratch- it’s AMAZING! It’s so good! Nothing against DQ or Ben and Jerry’s- but homemade ice cream is pretty freaking amazing!!

I’ve played with the ice cream recipe a bit & I have come up with a chocolate & vanilla that I love, as well as a technique to make sure you can actually enjoy it after storing it in the freezer. The only difference between the 2 flavors is that the chocolate has cocoa powder in it.

You’ll need an ice cream maker for my recipe. I use one on my KitchenAid stand mixer. I recommend doing this on a weekend or your day off & starting earlier in the day, as you have to give your custard time to cool before you process it into ice cream in your ice cream maker. This isn’t a spur of the moment recipe.

Ketogenic Vanilla or Chocolate Ice Cream

• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 Tbs. gelatine powder
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 3/4 cup Swerve Confectioners
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, if making chocolate
• 1 vanilla bean
• pinch of salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup MCT oil (I use Louanna Fractionated Coconut Oil)

Sprinkle the gelatine into the hot water and mix well. Set aside to allow it to soften, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, add 2.5 cups of heavy whipping cream to a medium saucepan (one with a pouring spout is ideal!). Add the Swerve. If you are making chocolate ice cream, add the cocoa powder as well. Whisk well to combine. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the heavy cream mixture, then place the vanilla bean itself into the mixture as well. (note- the vanilla goes in both the chocolate and vanilla recipes). Begin heating over medium heat.

While the heavy cream mixture begins to heat, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream to a large measuring cup with the 3 egg yolks, and mix well to combine.

Allow the heavy cream mixture to just come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Remove the vanilla beans and discard. Very slowly, whisking the whole time, add about a cup of the hot cream mixture to the cream & egg mixture. This step prevents your eggs from scrambling when you add them to the hot mixture- no one wants scrambled eggs in their ice cream! Once they are well combined, add all of the cream mixture back to the sauce pan.

Add the gelatine mixture to the cream mixture, after one final brisk stir to be sure there are no clumps in it. Mix well to combine, and allow the mixture to continue to heat over low heat until it thickens a bit, whisking gently the whole time.

Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and the MCT oil. Whisk well to combine.

Place a piece of saran wrap directly on top of the cream mixture so that a skin does not form while it cools. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature. It takes several hours. Once it reaches room temperature, process in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions.

I always like to enjoy a scoop of the ice cream when it finishes processing. It’s like soft serve! Divide the rest between a set of Popsicle molds. This recipe makes about 8 popsicles for me.

I learned the hard way that this ice cream recipe hardens in the freezer to a point where it can’t be scooped, so the popsicle molds solve that problem! If you can wait about 5 minutes to eat your ice cream popsicle after taking it out of the freezer, the texture will be very nice- but I confess, I start eating it as soon as I take it out!