Almost 12 hours later the Mint Chocolate Chip is very firm, but no harder than any well frozen commercial ice cream. It spooned out with little effort using an ice cream spoon.

kev do you do carb counts when you make your ice cream?.. or just know that keeping it LC is going to be okay?.. I love how you tweek these recipes until they come out awesome.. you are very much appreciated around here.. for sure.
dianna

Yes I do count the carbs and sorry I didn't include them. Both of these batches that I made were right about 3 carbs (plus or minus 1/2 carb) for a 1/2 cup serving which is where the counts of most commercial lc sf ice cream are. I big difference is no sugar alcohol. That said, I do not count the glycerine since I know in my case it does not effect my blood sugar........YMMV.

Well, here's the Ginger Ice Cream recipe. Be warned, because of the way it's made, I had to do some wild guestimating on the Ginger Syrup and the Candied Ginger Bits. I may tweak it again sometime, but not soon, I have to try the Ice Cream Base tests, first, and there's only so much ice cream I can stand to have around!

The nutrition counts there are for the whole recipe, if you want a per serving, guestimate your SERVING SIZE and divide that into the final YIELD I give for the whole finished recipe. YSSMV Your Serving Size May Vary! Oh, I do count carbs for all products, including erythritol, polydextrose and glycerine, based on their CALORIE counts (my theory is that if they have calories, they have carbs. I do deduct fiber. So the E, the PDX are very low carb, the glycerine is actually moderately high carb, though it is low glycemic. There IS a difference, in my view.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Ice Cream, Ginger

Recipe By : Jude, IslandGirl
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Desserts, Frozen Veggie Ovo-Lacto

-Amount Measure ---Ingredient ---Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
- 200 milliliters heavy cream -- ~ 7/8 C
- 200 milliliters Natrel low lactose Milk 2% -- ~ 7/8 C
- 200 milliliters light cream -- ~ 7/8 C Coffee Cream 18% b.f.
--- 3 whole large egg yolks -- beaten
--- 1 pinch salt
-- 15 milliliters glycerine -- ~ 1 Tbsp
- 300 grams Candied Ginger Root & Light Syrup -- ~ 1 C, syrup portion only
- 130 grams Candied Ginger Root & Light Syrup -- ~ 1 C finely chopped, sugared ginger portion only

Beat the egg yolks thoroughly and set aside. Heat the Ginger Syrup (do not boil) and set aside. Chop

In a heavy bottomed pan, not aluminum, bring the creams and milk to a scald (~ 180F), then stir in the glycerine and the Ginger Syrup til well blended.

Temper the egg yolks with some of the hot cream mixture, then blend all together and stir over medium heat until the mixture just coats the back of a spoon.

Cool the mixture thoroughly, at least 2H and preferably up to 12H or overnight. Churn "following manufacturer's direction" in your ice cream maker of choice. Add in the finely chopped ginger pieces at the very end of the churn cycle.

Copyright: "©LowCarbCanada.com®/Carbers' Kitchen Counter™"
Yield: "4 cups"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NOTES : 2006-06-15

Whole Recipe:1621 Calories; 134g Fat (57.0% calories from fat); 29g Protein; 198g Carbohydrate; 113g Dietary Fiber; 1064mg Cholesterol; 2081mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 3 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 26 Fat; 3 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Yield before churning: 750mL / 3.25C / 810g (before adding chopped ginger)
Yield after churning: 960mL / 4C+ / 940g

Well, I finally did get a chance to do this recently, and the results are in. Used Lisa's working proportions (roughly, 1 egg yolk & 15ml glycerol per 250ml "ice cream base") as a starting point -- thank you, Lisa!

So, in equal amounts by volume of 1 Tbsp/15ml added to the recipe , the glycerine icecream was slightly more scoopable and "smoother" (less "ice-y") than the polydextrose heavy syrup* version.

OTOH, the pdx version was very slightly less sweetly 'cloying' (dont' know how else to describe the sweetness added by the glycerol) and the ice-y factor was mild, just discernible in side by side taste testing.

So, in the end, I've blended the two test results into one batch, stuck it back in the fridge, and am winging it (in terms of the pdx and glycerol content) on a new batch of Intense Mocha which has got to be a killer flavor. The same base recipe (not counting the added melted bittersweet and the instant decaf crystals) doubled to keep proportion but with 30ml pdx and 15ml glycerol. It's in the freezer doing its final set up now, having passed the first taste test with all flags flying -- I had a time putting the spoon away!

Pic when scooped....

*I keep a 'heavy' syrup, almost corn syrup like in sweetness and thickness, for cooking purposes; 2:1 by volume PDX and water with sweetener combo to taste.

Hey all you ice cream fanatics!!! Just wanted to let you know I continue to tweak the recipe. The new tweak is...

When making the "milk" i've been using SF Davinci (you choose the most appropriate flavor) for the water portion.

I've been omitting the FiberFit and I've been using 1/2 as much Sweetfreez (maybe 4 GTT).

I've made a really good batch of peach and have made a batch of chocolate chip mint.

I'm finding that the ice cream doesn't freeze as hard as the original recipe. Maybe it's the SF Davinci (instead of water???). Anyway, my next experiment is going to be Cherry Garcia--Cherry ice cream with chocolate chips.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Lisa

I don't know how I missed this post, but I can shed a little light on the subject.

1. Glycerol has better freezing point depression abilities than polyd. Neither are as powerful freezing point depressors as erythritol. Erythritol's super small molecule size makes it the grand daddy of freezing point depression.

2. Glycerol has known taste issues at larger quantities. The amount you're using is definitely close to/if not exceeding those boundaries. It's kind of hard to describe the taste, but you know it if you've done it- it's definitely 'off.'

Polyd is invaluable for adding both viscosity for whipping more air into the ice cream (more air = scoopability) and like sugar, it provides emulsion. Good emulsion is vital to ice cream. Unemulsified clumps of milkfat equal unemulsified clumps of water, which, turn, equals clumps of ice. The further you can break down the milkfat into smaller particles, the smoother the end results.

Have you tried your ice cream with a stabilizer like xanthan and/or guar?

Hmmmmmm, yes, I think I'll be adding E into the sweetener mix at some point in the near future. Just that bit extra scoopability is what I'd like (though it's not too shabby now).


I've doubled the PDX and halved the Glycerol in the current recipe, and am pretty satisfied with it! Oh, and I remember that taste from some of those commercial protein bars...yes, faintly metallic and very very sweet at the same time, that's as close as I can get to a flavour description...


Oh, yeah! This is some serious milkfat I've got going here... I'm convinced the PDX and the egg yolk together are doing a bang up job on emulsification...I'm probably going to boost the PDX and add some liquid lecithin (another off flavour to deal with) in my Strawberry Yogurt Freeze test, to accommodate the lack of thickening/emulsification from egg yolks (don't want to cook the yogurt so no French/Custard Style).


Funny you should mention that! Yes, actually. I did some digging and reading and ended up with a working theory of a blend of a small amount of xanthan gum and an even smaller amount of konjac (there's a claim to an amazing viscosity and a serious reduction in ice crystal formation, from the konjac teeny tiny handbook that arrived with my shaker of glucomannan 'flour') whisked VERY quickly into my base before chilling down and churning. That batch awaits the scoopability test, and is now half Vanilla Bean and the other half BitterSweet Dark Chocolate. The custard was very thick, particularly in the Chocolate (after whisking in the chopped chocolate to melt, it continued to thicken) and churned up rather more rapidly than usual, and looked nicely smooth.

ps: no pic of the Intense Mocha -- got et by my beloved niece and nephew, along with a small test batch of Orange Creamsicle (for those who are curious, a mixture of Keto OJ -- yes, yes, I can't believe I still had some kicking around! -- and SF Tang provided the orange flavour). Do have a batch of Vanilla Bean and the BitterSweet Dark Choc (3/4 of a large Lindt 80% Cocoa bar) in the freezer that I may neeed to take a pic of...hmmmm, a bowl of Black & White...yum.

Yes, metallic... kind of a warm metallic



Be careful with the polyd. Too much and the ice cream becomes chewy. Unless, of course, chewy is your goal I don't know how much this helps, but the ice cream base in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book is a non cooked egg recipe.



You'll need some heat/liquid to melt the polyd (and erythritol if you're using), but the eggs should give you some emulsion. Unless, of course, you're trying to avoid any egg taste, then lecithin is it. Speaking of which... Lecithin really gets my goat. I really don't care for it. Sure, it's pretty good at emulsifying, but the taste I can do without. I was reading today how mono and diglycerides are milk derivatives (and much more natural than the scary sounding names). It's a shame we can't pop over to the supermarket and pick up some of those. I think those would be ideal for an eggless uncooked ice cream. It's especially frustrating when we seem to have countless gum stabilizers for ice cream making but our choices for emulsification are so limited.

Oh, and there are ingredients in ice cream that although not classified as emulsifiers, have emulsification abilities. Milk proteins are one. If you can afford the carbs, dried skim milk might help. Whey might have the same taste issues as lecithin. Have you taken the plunge yet and invested in some casein? It's pretty fun stuff! Casein would definitely help here.



Glucomannan flour?! That is way cool!!! I've read everything I can get my hand on regarding ice cream stabilization- that's totally new to me. I've been hearing great things about methylcellulose in ice cream. I think eventually I might track some down. Fun with hydrocolloids!



The chocolate base could have become thicker from the cocoa butter, but I'm thinking it could also be a chemical reaction between the glucomannan and the chocolate.



It's kind of a long shot, but the Lindt chocolate might be alkalized, even if it doesn't say it in the ingredients. If the chocolate version is a lot chewier than the vanilla, I'd chalk it up to this.

After reading this thread, I think I'm gonna give ice cream making another try. I bought an ice cream maker last summer, took the recipe for chocolate ice cream that came with the device, and just substituted Splenda (the one you measure just like sugar) for the sugar. The results were very disappointing. In addition to the rock hardness of the end product, it had a very "dry" "flaky" mouthfeel to it...nothing like the luscious mouthfeel of a good gelato. The recipe had no eggs in it. Do you think the addition of glycerine would resolve this issue? Is it the egg yolks that make the difference? Or is it a case of "the sum is greater than its parts" and I should just follow the damn recipe? Being able to skip the "cooking a custard" would be good (e.g. if it has no eggs), but if it's really essential, I'll do it.

I DO like the mint chocolate chip commercially available product, and the butter pecan, but the chocolate and vanilla are pretty disappointing and might be worth the effort of making my own...

lisa.. will you fill in the final recipe here??. i know you have tweaked it for the best results.. but it is among several posts.. maybe the whole NEW improved one.. so to speak..?? please post what can and cannot be changed. I have tried to do ice cream in my Vita-Mix.. and find it is too gritty(ice chunks.. not your recipe.. just something i was trying to get close to resembling ice cream) please!. please!. please!??!!
PiD

Ok, I just ordered some Konjac flour. I gotta try this too.

Wow, that looks yummy!

PiD--You probably wont like to hear this but I think part of the problem is the Vita-Mix itself. Whenever I have seen anybody use it for ice cream (maybe 1/2 dozen or so demostrations over the years) The consistency always looked extremely soft (softer than soft serve) and somewhat grainy (almost like little ice chunks in it) With that said, here is the recipe I've been using the last 4-5 batches. I like the consisitency and texture just fine. Sme of the other afficianados may think there is room for improvement (there probably is) but I'm satisfied.


3 eggs yolks
200 ml heavy cream
2 TBS heavy cream and enough SF Davinci to make 200 ml
2 TBS glycerine
(1 TBS Erythritol if you need additional sweetening)

I usually pick a SF Davinci that is appropriate for the flavor I'm making. If I don't want any flavoring then I use the Davinci simple syrup.

I usually leave out the Erythritol because between the glycerine and the Davinci I find that is plenty sweet enough. The only time I use the additional Erythritol is when I make the green tea ice cream because the macha used tends to be a bit bitter

The glycerine (for me) is non-negotiable.

Hope this helps!

Lisa

Okay, okay, you dragged it out of me.
Here is the blend of sweeteners that will make your ice cream perfect. It won't be all hard and brittle, won't be a frozen brick, it will be creamy (assuming you use CREAM like the good lord intended) and scoopable and wonderful and your friends will roll their eyes and make swoony noises.

Substitute for 1 cup of sugar in recipes; make a scant version for recipes that call for less. You need to use a cooked—or at least warmed—recipe for the base since some of the sweeteners need warmth to dissolve.

binki's Master Blend
1 cup polydextrose
1/4 cup erythritol (could probably use xylitol instead)
1 or 2 teaspoons maltitol (you can leave it out or substitute another sweetener for the synergy, but this tiny amount in the whole recipe hasn't bothered anyone yet)
4-6 drops Sweetzfree to taste
1 teaspoon liquid lecithin
1 teaspoon glycerin

Add to the cream and stir over heat until dissolved. Mix with eggs and flavorings and proceed as usual.

I made mint chocolate chip ice cream too, but there isn't any left to photograph... and hell yeah I dyed it green!