SILKY. RICH. INDULGENT.
A creamy, dreamy ice-cream with a silky texture and premium taste.
Make with or without an ice-cream maker.
Ice cream is one of those most yummy foods that really hits the bliss points, for me at least. What this means in reality, is that one scoop is never enough, especially when there are so many flavours out there waiting for tasting. And regular ice cream is totally loaded with sugar and carbs, coming in at about 27g sugar for those little teeny tubs, which at 87g are supposed to be around a scoop, if you can stop at that.
After some time researching alternative sweetners and their depression points, I came up with this recipe, which uses coconut milk, egg and peanut butter to create an absolutely bona fide ice cream in terms of taste and texture. The coffee is added for depth of flavour and combines with the PB and vanilla to add a caramelly depth, rather than a strong coffee taste.
Reducing the freezing point of the ice cream base is key to creating an ice cream that doesn’t freeze absolutely rock solid. Sugar does this well, and it’s one of the reasons why ice cream is SO sweet! Xylitol also does this (other sweeteners don’t all do this, so don’t replace, except with honey, as outlined in recipe). Combined with xanthan gum, which thickens the mix a little, adds a silky feel, and acts to stop crystallization of liquids on freezing, the end result is proper ice cream. Low carb need never mean no ice cream again.
In terms of taste, you have GOT to trust me that coconut milk, coffee and peanut butter just works! I took this with me to lots of parties and it went down as well as any ice cream I’ve ever seen. The fact that it’s not dairy wasn’t even noted.
This is a great base recipe to play around with. If peanut butter is too strong a taste, use cashew butter – the mildest tasting butter of all, or any other butter for a different taste. You can drop the coffee and add a little more vanilla if using honey, for a vanilla – honey variation.
Do not skip the salt though, it’s a key part of both the bliss point formula, and again helps lower the freezing point.
Depending on what temperature your mix is when putting it in to freeze, this will be at soft scoop texture around 2 hrs after putting into the freezer, so you can serve at that stage, or if fully frozen, just remove from freezer 10 – 30 mins before serving depending on your room temp. It holds its texture extremely well.
If making with an ice cream maker, just follow the instructions for your ice cream maker. And if making without an ice cream maker, stir with a fork every 20 mins to move the frozen segments into the centre and mix all around. The texture IS lighter with an ice cream maker, so if you make without one, just leave for a little extra when thawing.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. It’s a total keeper in my life.
NB: keep away from pets, xylitol is toxic to dogs.
PB & Coffee Ice-cream
Ingredients
- 1 can canned coconut milk (full fat, at room temp, i.e. not separated)
- 80 g xylitol (just under 1/2 cup)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum (available in health food shop) do not use more than 1/4 tsp
- 85 g peanut butter (just under 1/2 cup)
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 shot strong espresso coffee
Instructions
- Gently heat about 1/3 of the coconut milk with the xylitol until the xylitol is completely melted.
- Beat the egg until light and fluffy.
- Sieve the xanthan gum into the egg and beat a little again.
- Add the hot coconut mixture to the egg gradually, beating as it's added.
- Add the remaining coconut milk and the peanut butter, coffee shot, salt and vanilla extract into the coconut and egg mix and mix well.
- Pour into a cooled metal or plastic bowl or ice-cream maker.
- If using an ice cream maker follow the manufacturers instructions otherwise use a chilled metal or plastic bowl and follow the instructions below. A chilled bowl speeds up freezing.
- Place bowl with ice cream into freezer, and stir with a fork every 20 - 30 min, scraping the edges and mixing each time. Do this for 2 hours or until at soft serve texture.
- Serve once at soft serve texture, or leave to freeze fully.
- After 12 hours, the ice-cream will need to be removed from the freezer 10-30 min before serving to relax. The exact time will depend on your enviornment.
