Ice Cream!

Yes, I have been craving some really good ice cream. The best ice cream I’ve tasted from the store is Talenti – love their ice cream. They have such simple ingredients, but of course it has sugar. I sent them a request once to make a sugar free version, but they haven’t yet. I’m sure it’s coming down the pike.

I’ve also tried some of those protein ice creams they have out there. Out of all of them I’ve tasted, Halo is probably the best tasting one, but these are always so hard and rarely creamy. And let’s face it, we don’t need higher protein or less calories, we just don’t need the sugar.

So I decided to make my own ice cream. I did a little bit of research on Sunday and discovered that there are three types of ice cream makers: ice/salt, freezer bowl, and compressor. The compressor types obviously make the best ice creams, but they are the most expensive and I wasn’t about to spend over $300 just to satisfy a craving. There were mixed reviews about the freezer bowl types mostly because of how you can only make about 1.5 pints of ice cream every 24 hours (the freezer bowl takes about 24 hours in the freezer before you can use it to make ice cream). The freezer bowl also takes up space in your freezer (but about the same amount of space as a half gallon of ice cream). There is the ice/salt types that are popular and cheap, but what you might save on the device itself you probably would be spending in ice and rock salt. So I went with the freezer bowl and purchased a Cuisinart Ice-21 from Amazon.

Yesterday I was so excited to receive a text that my ice cream maker had been delivered. I texted my husband…

When my ice cream maker shows up, let me know so I can grab some ice cream ingredients on my way home from work. I’m so excited! Oh… wait… Nvmd. I have to freeze the bowl for 24 hours first… darn it…

When I got home last night, I found that my ice cream maker had been unleashed from its box and my husband put the bowl in the freezer already for me (such a good man).

So TODAY I got ingredients to make ice cream. I found a recipe in the Cuisinart instruction booklet for Cheesecake Ice Cream – um, yes please! And then I was going to Keto-fy it. Luckily I thought ahead and bought ubers amount of Swerve Confectioners sugar substitute from Amazon. I knew that it would be the only sweetener that would work and dissolve well enough. So here’s my recipe:

Keto-fied Cheesecake Ice Cream #ketointheruff

• 12 oz Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature, 1-inch cubed
• 1 cup Swerve Confectioners sugar substitute
• 1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1/4 cup mascarpone, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy cream, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

Put cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, cream the cream cheese until very smooth (they suggest a stand mixer with a paddle, but I don’t have one of these – a hand mixer works just fine). Gradually add the salt and sugar substitute. Mix well and allow sugar to dissolve into cream cheese. Add the mascarpone and mix until well combined. Slowly add cream and vanilla – mix until silky smooth. Just remember that you don’t want to turn the cream into butter. Using a spatula, fold the sour cream into the mix. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.

Use your ice maker according to your manufacturer’s instructions. For mine, I only had to let it mix in the freezer bowl for about 15 minutes before I had beautiful soft serve ice cream. I can tell you that it is friggin’ creamy and delicious! My teenage son tried some and he loved it. We both agreed though that it is so creamy and rich that after maybe a half of cup, you are completely full and satisfied. That is a great sign.

So I used my macro calculator to calculate the macronutrients. This recipe made about 1.5 pints (I recycled some Talenti containers from my kids eating there “real” ice cream). The total calculated nutritional values: 2370 calories, 228g fat, 30g protein, and 26g carbs. I think 1/2 cup would be plenty for a serving size, so that means this recipe has a total of 6 servings. So, per serving: 395 calories, 38g fat, 5g protein, and 4g carbs. Not too bad for a yummy dessert. It’s almost a fat bomb…