Low carb ice cream?

I will tag @Brunneria to see if she can help.
I wonder how much kit we have languishing in our kitchen cupboards. My bread maker, for instance.
Might be useful to start a thread listing the equipment that can still be used, maybe in novel ways. We are very resourceful on here.

Have you thought about actually using just cream? Someone - I think @Scandichic - makes it from cream and frozen berries just whizzed up, and I know someone else has made it too maybe @Charles Robin - I think vodka was also used? But I imagine any recipe for "real" ice cream should do, you'd just need to avoid any sugar and syrup, and maybe sweeten with diabetic friendly stevia or erythritol. Sukrin do some good (if expensive) sugar alternatives.

Robbity

Thanks @DeejayR

Like the new avatar @Emmotha !

My icecream recipe is made in a blender powerful enough to crush ice, and takes about a minute from start to finish.
But presumably it would be adaptable for an ice cream maker, although I can't advise.

So,
I freeze a punnet of strawberries. Or other berries. Blueberry and raspberry is amazing.
Then I put the fruit in the blender, with some double cream (2/3 fruit, 1/3 cream)
and add enough sweetener (xylitol or erythritol, but you could use anything you liked.)
Remember, frozen foods taste less sweet than unfrozen, so don't skimp in the sweetener.
Blend till it turns into icecream.
Enjoy immediately.

Would that work in an icecream maker, if the ingredients were unfrozen, and puréed first?

My other thoughts are that good icecream is basically eggs, cream, sugar and flavourings.
Presumably substituting the sugar, and using low carb fruit, 70% choc etc. would make most things work...

Robbity said:

Have you thought about actually using cream? Someone - I think @Scandichic - makes it from cream and frozen berries just whizzed up, and I know someone else has made it too maybe @Charles Robin - I think vodka was also used? But I imagine any recipe for "real" ice cream should do, you'd just need to avoid any sugar and syrup, and maybe sweeten with diabetic friendly stevia or erythritol. Sukrin do some good (if expensive) sugar alternatives.

Robbity

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Great minds...

Brunneria said:

Great minds...

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I did also think about you as an ice cream whizzer, but was sure it was Scandichic who did the basic cream and frozen fruit version.

Years ago my little ice cream maker was just a small bowl with a motorized paddle that sat in the freezer and its main function was simply to agitate the mix to prevent it crystallizing as it froze.

Robbity

Emmotha said:

i saw a thread earlier that mentioned low carb ice cream. And it got me thinking... I don't have to waste the ice cream maker I was bought last year before diagnoses?

Has anyone ever tried making ice cream out of coconut milk? I can't find simple instructions online?

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http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/lchf-ice-cream.70900/

Emmotha said:

Hi all.

I made it, it's yum, but it's turning into a breeze block of ice. By tomorrow it will be solid :-(
How do you stop it doing that?

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You need to add some liquid glucose a teaspoon full will be enough.

Some more "keeping it soft" tips here.

Also, if you don't have an ice cream maker, you should take it out of the freezer while it's in the process of freezing, and beat it to break up the ice crystals. It get all lumpy when the crystals clump together so you need to prevent this happening. This is how I used to do it many years ago.

Robbity

Emmotha said:

I have an ice cream maker, but I'm not very good at it yet. Thanks for the tips

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Hi Emmotha,

You could try the methods at the following:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/smidges-low-carb-ice-cream-emporium.31680/

I never did work out how to stop the ice-cream freezing solid by the following day but adding alcohol helps. I've tried glycerine as well with some success.

Getting it out of the freezer 30 minutes before you want to use it works best - as does defrosting it in the microwave for 30 seconds!

Smidge

The links to the tips probably say this, but my mother used to take the icecream out of the freezer, and beat it several times as it froze (old style hand beater, with the two metal beaters that you insert, like for making meringue).

Something about stopping the ice crystals from growing. Because if they are allowed to grow too big they 'lock together' and it sets solid.

If it freezes with tiny crystals, you can scoop it because it stays soft.