Dairy Free Ice Cream Recipe - Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip

Poor Allie seems to be intolerant of dairy. :( Since September she has had almost constant tummy aches and reflux. After reading What's Eating Your Child I thought it may be dairy causing her issues.  The reflux goes away when she doesn't eat any dairy, unfortunately we haven't been able to get rid of the tummy ache.  Anyway the poor girl can't eat the most delicious food in the world and that is very sad.  So I decided to try making a coconut milk ice cream and it turned out VERY good!  I don't typically like coconut, but I ended up eating more of it than Allie did.  Oops.  The other great thing about this recipe is that it is low in sugar because the banana makes it plenty sweet.  :)

Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Recipe


1 can of coconut milk
1 can of coconut cream
2 egg yolks
2 overripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1 chilled bar of free trade dark chocolate


In a blender mix the coconut milk, coconut cream, egg yolks, sugar, and bananas.  Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to the machines directions.  Chop the chocolate bar into tiny pieces.  A couple minutes before the ice cream is done pour the chocolate chips in.  Scoop and eat. :)  

If you don't want raw/frozen eggs here is a custard style recipe

Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Custard Style Ice Cream Recipe



1 can of coconut milk
1 can of coconut cream
4 egg yolks
2 overripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1 chilled bar of free trade dark chocolate chopped into pieces

• Warm coconut milk and sugar on the stove.
• Stir egg yolks in a bowl
• Slowly pour warm milk and sugar mixture into the eggs while constantly whisking.
• Pour the milk, sugar, egg mixture back into pot and heat over medium heat while constantly stirring.
• Pour cream into a bowl and place a fine colander/strainer over the bowl.
• When the milk sugar egg mixture starts to thicken and when you can dip a scraper in the mixture, and it coats the scraper so that you can draw a line with your finger (here is a good picture of what I mean from Simply So Good) then remove the mixture from the heat and pour it through the strainer into the cream.
• Put the whole mixture into a blender, or use an immersion blender and blend the bananas in.
• Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for a few hours.  If you want to chill overnight you might want to wait and mix the bananas in the next day.  
• Pour into ice cream maker according to the machine's directions.
• A few minutes before it is completely churned pour the chocolate pieces in.
• Scoop and eat! 

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Recipe - Low Sugar and Low Carb

Since I'm not able to eat sugar any more I've been very sad about not getting to eat ice cream.  Ice cream was my go-to comfort food, and I have spent a lot of time learning how to make delicious homemade ice cream.  I don't want that skill to go to waste!  So I've been pondering this very low sugar/low carb ice cream recipe for a while and I finally got around to making it and I think its delicious.  It is perfect for my palette that no longer likes things super sweet and it satisfies the chocolate and creamy goodness of ice cream.  I think it would also work well as a nice dessert for people with diabetes.  You can easily adapt the recipe to a normal ice cream recipe by adding 3/4 cup of sugar (I have included where to add this in the instructions).

A half cup serving of this ice cream will give you about 12g total carbs, 3g of fruit sugar, and 2g of cane sugar.

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 4 or 5oz of dark chocolate cut into pieces
• 2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups of whipping cream
• 1 cup of 2% milk
• 2 overripe bananas
• 1 vanilla bean (could substitute half tsp of vanilla abstract)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Take 1 cup of the cream and warm it up on the stove.  Add the cocoa powder and the vanilla bean. (Slice the vanilla bean open and scrape it and let it soak in the warm milk.  
• Once hot remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until its melted.  Move the mixture to a new large bowl and let the warm mixture sit with the vanilla bean in it.
• Rinse out the pot and warm up 1 cup of milk (If you want to make this a fully sweetened ice cream you can add 3/4 cup of sugar to the milk now).  Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl and whisk.  Pour the warm milk slowly into the bowl while whisking constantly.
• Pour the egg milk mixture back into the pot and cook over medium heat stirring constantly.  When the mixture (custard) coats the spatula and you can draw a line on the spatula with your finger, the custard is done.
• Pour the custard through a strainer into the chocolate/milk mixture.
• Immediately pour in the last cup of cream and stir vigorously.  You should put the bowl in an ice bath, but I never do that step.
• Pull out the vanilla bean and scrape as much of the insides as you can.  Discard the shell.
• Peel the two bananas and break them up and put it in the mixture.  Use an immersion blender, or pour the mixture into a blender and blend.
• Cover the ice cream and put in the fridge, preferably overnight.
• Pour in your ice cream maker and churn according to its directions.
• Eat straight from the ice cream maker or put in a container and freeze.  I like to use small glass mason jars.

See here for more ice cream making tips.  Please comment if you try this recipe.  Thanks!

Minimally Sweetened, Fresh Mint, Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

I've been trying to cut back on sweeteners.  It is recommended that you get no more than 25g of extra sugar (so not counting fruit) a day.  25g is pretty much one bowl of ice cream.  I have been doing pretty good overall.  There is a little bit of sugar (about 3-4g) in the piece of toast I have each morning (Dave's Killer Bread) and then my bowl of ice cream in the evening.  However I'd like to do better.  So I decided to make a minimally sweetened ice cream.  I figured strawberries would be good for it because you can macerate the strawberries in a bit of sugar to bring out their natural sweetness.  I also thought some fresh mint would be yummy.  I like to mix strawberry ice cream and mint ice cream in the same bowl so I figured making an ice cream with them together would be good too.  The ice cream turned out yummy. It probably would have been even better with more sugar, but overall it was a success.  Here is the recipe:

Minimally Sweetened Fresh Mint Strawberry Ice Cream
* Start this in the morning if you want the ice cream in the evening
* This makes about 5-6 generous servings which is about 12-14.5 grams of sugar per serving

1 lb of strawberries
1/2 cup of evaporated cane juice (3/4 cup if you want fully sweetened)
fist full of mint leaves
1 cup whole milk
2 cups of cream

• Warm the milk and 1 cup of cream on the stove.  Remove from heat, put the mint leaves in and cover. Let them seep for a couple hours
• Hull and chop the strawberries and put them in a bowl.  Mix the evaporated cane juice in and let them sit for a couple hours.
• Pull out the mint leaves and press them through a strainer back into the milk to squeeze out all their mintiness.
• Put the strawberries, minty milk, and cream in a blender and blend.  It is up to you how much you want to chop up the strawberries.
• Put the mixture in the fridge for a few hours. 
• Pour it into your ice cream maker following your machine's directions.
• Eat it!  

For more ice cream making tips see my previous post.

Homemade Ice Cream That is Better Than You Can Buy

I got an ice cream making machine for Christmas and have spent the last nine months making lots and lots of different kinds ice cream. It is really addicting and is a step towards fulfilling my goal to not eating any processed foods. ;) My first few batches were not very good, but the more and more ice cream I make the better it is. Here is what I've learned so far:

Machine:

I have the Cuisinart 1-1/2-Quart Automatic Ice Cream Makers. It seems to be a really popular machine. Lots of great reviews on Amazon, and can be found at most any store. It is very easy to use. It has a bowl that has some special freezing potion inside it. You keep the bowl in the freezer all the time and pull it out when you are ready to mix up the ice cream. It is open on top so you can peek inside and see how the ice cream is doing. It is big enough to make about 4 - 5 generous servings of ice cream. It takes about 15 - 30 minutes for a batch of ice cream to thicken up. My only complaint is that some of the non-stick coating has scraped off when I scoop the ice cream out of the container. I am sure that the stuff is not good for you to ingest.

Recipes:

I bought Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments and Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. I first started reading these recipe books and it talked about how much better homemade ice cream was than store bought and I didn't exactly agree with them as my ice cream hadn't turned out that great so far, but then I tried the Lemon Ice Cream recipe in the Perfect Scoop and changed my mind. The Strawberry Sour Cream one is also a favorite of mine. The flavors are really strong. The strawberry ice cream really tastes like strawberries and the lemon ice cream really tastes like lemon. Mmmmm. I prefer the Perfect Scoop over the Ben and Jerry's book.

So far I have made strawberry, plum, mango, lemon, peach, fresh mint, chocolate fresh mint, chocolate, mint chocolate chip, peanut butter and chocolate, mixed fruit, roasted banana, chocolate banana, and chocolate chip ice cream. I am looking forward to making my own ice cream sandwiches, and pumpkin, ginger, and strawberry apple ice cream.

Tips:

• All ice cream comes out soft serve, even what you buy in the store. Putting it in the freezer before you eat it will harden it up.
• When you harden the ice cream in the freezer many times it comes out icy. I kind of like the icy taste for fruit ice creams, but for chocolate I do not. Recipes that have you make a custard with a minimum of 5 egg yolks makes for the creamiest and least icy ice cream.
  
• Chilling the mixture in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably over night, before you churn it, will help make stiffer ice cream.
• Keeping the ice cream in the ice cream maker longer also makes for stiffer and creamier ice cream. I keep it in till the ice cream starts climbing up the paddles and is fluffy not runny.
• Filling the ice cream maker no more than half way allows for more air to be whipped into it and also makes for a creamier, more scoopable, less icy ice cream.
• The Ben & Jerry's ice cream recipe's have you use raw eggs. Catching Salmonella from raw eggs is really quite rare and eating raw eggs doesn't bother me, but it does bother some people. If you don't want raw eggs, you can make a custard first, but raw egg recipes are a lot easier to make. The Perfect Scoop describes how to make a custard very well. I could not taste the difference between using raw eggs, or making a custard when only using two eggs. I have not tried using a 5 egg recipe with raw eggs.
  
• To chop chocolate or to make chocolate chips you can put a chocolate bar in the freezer and then grate the chocolate with a cheese grater.
  

I am working on the perfect chocolate ice cream recipe. The problem is the more chocolate ice cream I eat, my idea of perfect changes, but I will share what I have so far soon.