I let my kids have this for breakfast the other day, knowing that they’d be getting all those healthy fats and nutrients, and less maple syrup than if they’d had some on a pancake! (More healthy breakfast ideas.)
We borrowed Sonia’s Ice Cream Maker last week and went crazy with that thing. After Julie raved about the Nourishing Traditions recipe in 
I would even venture to call this a low carb and healthy treat, just wait until you see these ingredients – full of nutrients! It only has a half cup of real maple syrup in 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream, so it’s a natural sweetener, AND there’s not that much of it!
Here’s the Ice Cream Maker
I’m asking for this Christmas – it’s a little bigger than Sonia’s (this one is 2 qt.), which is important since we go through homemade ice cream fast around here.
Nourishing Traditions VANILLA Ice Cream recipe (with permission from Sally to post it here)
Recipe is adapted a bit to make 1 -1/2 quarts (fits perfect in Sonia’s 1- 1/2 qt. ice cream maker above)
- 3 egg yolks (be sure you use good quality eggs from a local farmer who raises healthy pasture-fed chickens…I wouldn’t recommend eating raw eggs from the grocery store – we get ours from Heffron Farms, Lubbers or Grist Mill)
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 2-3 T. vanilla extract
- 1 T. arrowroot (looks like cornstarch only it’s better for us)
- 3 1/2 c. heavy cream/whipping cream, preferably raw, but for sure NOT ULTRAPASTEURIZED
- dash sea salt
Beat egg yolks and blend in remaining ingredients. Pour into ice cream maker and process according to instructions.
CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM VARIATION
- 1/2 c. real maple syrup
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 1/2 c. heavy cream (see above)
- 1 1/2 T. organic cocoa powder
- dash sea salt
I think I liked chocolate the best, but they’re both dreamy.
- UPDATE! I got the above ice cream maker for Christmas and here are the amounts for 2 qts. of chocolate: 2/3 c. maple syrup, 4 egg yolks, 4 2/3 c. cream, 2 T. cocoa, dash sea salt. 2 qts. of vanilla: 2/3 c. maple syrup, 4 egg yolks, 4 2/3 c. cream, 3 T. vanilla, 1 1/2 T. arrowroot, dash sea salt.
- We recently made vanilla and added 1 t. of peppermint extract, and then put in some chocolate chips when it was almost done – it was the best mint chocolate chip ice cream we’ve ever had! (The kids ask for it all the time.)
- Try the STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM!
- MORE LOW CARB IDEAS
- Or, if you’d like to make this an unhealthy treat, but still not as bad as some out there, try this homemade organic chocolate hot fudge, Mmmmmmm
- Best Coconut Oil Deals
- Here’s a link to a informative post on the various commercial ice creams out there, from Psychic Lunch.
- Many more topics & recipes along the right in the sidebar
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Julie 10.03.08 at 5:17 am
Ice cream for breakfast? Now we’re talkin’!!!!!
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 10.03.08 at 6:02 am
Somehow I knew you’d like that idea! I wonder what Anna will think of this, though! Anna, let me have it! I always love your comments, they challenge me to keep doing better.
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Anna 10.03.08 at 7:44 am
Not this time, Kelly! I love making ice cream. It's one of my occasional indulgences and it's always a hit with the family. I often use maple syrup, too. Because of the fat and protein (& no other high glucose ingredients like in baked pastry desserts ), I find the sugars in homemade ice cream doesn't send my BG up as high or as fast (non-fat frozen yogurt is another story!). So, with moderation and a somewhat lower sugar content, I can do ice cream now and then. Most often I use the basic uncooked egg, cream, & milk base in the Ben & Jerry's ice cream book, but with reduced sugar. Espresso is our favorite flavor, even with my 10 yr old.
It only takes a few minutes to whip up the base, then get the freezer set up. In less than 30-40 minutes it is done, at the "soft serve" stage. If I start it at 4pm, then I can get to that stage before starting dinner (thought the 25-20 minutes of freezing time allows me to stay nearby but doing other things, too). I transfer the soft ice cream to a container (I like shallow wide open containers, like the large glass GlassLock container from Snapware – my newest food storage find) and by the time dinner is over, the ice cream is perfect for scooping.
The main problem I've had with homemade ice cream is that it is frozen so hard after the first day in the freezer, that it is sometimes impossible to scoop. That's because homemade recipes don't have all the gums and additives that commercial ice cream use to control texture. If I turn adjust my freezer temp, other foods get too warm. I can't tell you how many times I put ice cream in the fridge before dinner to soften a bit or on the counter afterwards, then forgot about it, and later find cream soup.
Now I whip half or all of the cream to a semi-whipped stage first, then fold it into the other ingredients (already mixed together) before adding to the ice cream maker. That adds enough air to make scooping much easier, even when it is super frozen (my separate freezer is set super cold).
I make sure to use a recipe that doesn't make too much (1-1.5 qts), because with the air whipped into the cream, the volume is higher and a big batch might result in overspill near the end of freezing (ice cream expanding as it freezes), at least in my freezer bowl setup. Larger capacity machines might not have that problem.
I make ice cream with a freezer bowl accessory for my Kitchenaid stand mixer. That way I don't have a separate motor base to store. But I think they all do a pretty good job. When I was looking for a in ice cream freezer device, Cuisinart got a lot of good reviews.
BTW, when we went to Italy for two weeks this summer (my husband was the organizer for an international science conference in Tuscany, plus we met up with his family from the UK & Norway for a celebration of his mother's 80th birthday) – small gelatos were one of my vacation indulgences. I didn't haven't gelato every day when we were staying at a farmhouse apartment in the countryside, but when we were in towns and cities I sure did. Servings were very, very small and I was choosy, looking for the remaining establishments that make their own gelato (increasingly even in Italy gelato is commercially made). I nearly always chose a coffee or hazelnut flavor (might only be my imagination, but they seemed less sweet, though honestly they were still too sweet for my tastebuds – but oh so smooth and creamy).
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 10.03.08 at 1:47 pm
Woohooo!! I’m so excited that you like this dessert, Anna!
GREAT tip on whipping the cream first.
Love all your interesting stories, too.
Kelly
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Bamboo 10.03.08 at 6:52 pm
Kelly,
This sounds wonderful! We don’t have an ice cream maker but have made ice cream using the “baggie” method. In fact, we happened to make it a few days ago with fresh raw cream and it was the best ice cream I’ve ever had! The raw cream made the difference. Each child had their own sandwich bag and could flavor it however they wanted. I put some raw cacao powder in mine with a few chocolate chips and just a bit of rapadura. One child put some crushed peppermint in hers (okay, totally a compromise ingredient!) along with cacao and rapadura. We each had a gallon-sized baggie as well into which we put ice and rock salt, and the little baggie. Then squish, squish until it becomes ice cream. Eat immediately. Yum!
I don’t know how this would work with your recipe but I thought I’d throw it out there. I can’t think of a replacement for the plastic baggies though if you areavoiding all plastics.
Beth
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 10.03.08 at 6:56 pm
Hi Beth,
You were just on my mind not 5 minutes ago!
I thought about the baggie method (until we get an ice cream maker), but I think I’m too lazy for all that.
I’ll bet the kids thought it was fun, though.
Kelly
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Vicki 10.04.08 at 4:56 am
We’ve started making our homemade ice cream with coconut milk – which (obviously) makes it non-dairy. My husband says I should find some place to sell it – it is so yummy!
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Andrea 10.04.08 at 7:02 pm
Hello, Kelly!
We have been making this recipe from Nourishing Traditions (and making variations of it) for about two years now. We use only two tablespoons of maple syrup. We will have a bowl of it in place of dinner a couple times a week in the summer. Recently, I have been trying to get coconut oil and cod liver oil into my husband whom is reluctant to take it voluntarily, so I add it to the ice cream and serve it as a side with breakfast! I have to melt the coconut oil first, then I add both the coconut oil and cod liver oil to the egg yolks and vanilla before adding the cream. Yum!
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 10.05.08 at 5:31 am
Vicki,
That would be a great alternative to the coconut ice cream I’ve seen in the story – the ingredient list is so long!
Andrea,
You sneak cod liver oil in ice cream? Wow, you’re good! (I’m surprised the coconut oil doesn’t harden back up once it’s cold?)
Kelly
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Anna 10.05.08 at 2:14 pm
I haven’t tried this but I’ve read you can freeze the ice cream mixture in your fridge freezer in a bowl, stirring it every once in a while to break up the ice crystals. it might be a bit icier, but it’ll taste great anyway.
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cheeseslave 10.17.08 at 10:43 am
My mother-in-law made the vanilla ice cream the other day. We followed your recipe exactly. It was SO DELICIOUS.
The night before, I almost fainted when I read the ingredients in my father-in-law’s favorite store-bought ice cream. Why do they have to put hydrogenated palm oil in there????
Anyway, my in-laws were VERY impressed. And Kate ate a ton of it. This is not just a delicious dessert — it’s a health food!
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 10.18.08 at 3:58 pm
I’m sure you all figured this out, but up a few comments where I said, “story”, I meant “store”…
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Gina 11.19.08 at 9:12 pm
I have NT as well as Shannon Hayes’ Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, which has the NT recipe for vanilla ice cream as well, only she uses 3 Tablespoons of vanilla extract instead of one. It’s so much better with 3! With 1 it just tastes like maple syrup to me.
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 11.19.08 at 10:16 pm
Thanks Gina, now I have an excuse to make another batch!
Kelly p.s. I changed the amount in the recipe up in the post, too.
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Lisa@BlessedwithGrace 12.01.08 at 6:50 pm
Thanks for joining us for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. We are glad to have you, Christmas recipe or not. Please, keep coming back!
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Sherry 12.02.08 at 6:05 am
This sounds amazing and healthier for us, too! Thanks for sharing! I just got the Nourishing Traditions cookbook recently.
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 12.02.08 at 8:49 am
Sherry,
Let us know what you think after you try it!
Kelly
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Sarah 12.16.08 at 8:24 am
Yum! I want Ice cream for breakfast! I have “Nourishing Traditions” and was hoping to try out their ice cream recipe this summer . . . glad to know it is such a success!
Best,
Sarah
PS – That ice cream maker is on my wishlist too!
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Kelly the Kitchen Kop 12.16.08 at 9:45 am
Hi Sarah,
Yah, Kent’s not real happy with me. I ordered it and gave it to him to wrap. Aren’t I bad?? I can’t wait to try it out!!
Kelly
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Elizabeth Quigley 02.10.09 at 12:44 pm
Hi Kelly,
This is great. I am adding it to my collection. I just bought a new ice cream maker.
Blessings,
Mama Turtle
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Local Nourishment 02.12.09 at 10:50 am
Wow. Ice cream for breakfast. That’s REALLY thinking outside the box! I found a pretty good cookie recipe I made once and thought that was so “cool.” My friends’ moms were always giving them cookies for breakfast when I was growing up (or at least it seemed that way) and I thought it would be “cool” to do that for the kids, but they didn’t seem to get it.
When we went camping, we’d make ice cream in aluminum (!) coffee cans. A big, three-pound can held the ice and salt, then the little one-pound can in the middle, taped shut with the cream, milk, eggs and sugar. We’d play kick-the-can until it was done. Very fun. Wouldn’t dream of doing that now.
Hm, I have packed away my ice cream maker for the winter, perhaps I’ll get it out…
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Kelly 02.12.09 at 3:29 pm
Oh no, never never put the ice cream maker away, girl!
Hey, the kick the can thing sounds like a blast! There’s got to be a way to do that without using aluminum cans, we just have to put our heads together!
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Rebecca from Michigan 03.23.09 at 12:41 pm
Where do you get raw cream? I am wanting to purchase an Ice Cream Maker, any suggestions?
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Kelly 03.23.09 at 9:30 pm
Rebecca, if I had a good source of raw cream I’d love it (I leave the cream on our raw milk and shake it in), but since I don’t, I use Meijer’s cream that is pasteurized, but not ULTRA-pasteurized like most cream that you can find. (It’s in a pinkish purplish 1 c. carton.)
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Kelly 03.23.09 at 9:41 pm
OH, and a link for the ice cream maker I have (and LOVE) is above – it’s a 2 quart, and we need the extra 1/2 quart that you can’t normally find, we still usually eat it all in one sitting!
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Kathy 03.24.09 at 8:49 am
I just made coconut ice cream last night. I used coconut milk, cane sugar crystals and a pinch of salt. It tasted delicious!! Can’t wait to try the chocolate and and the chocolate mint. I may be awhile since I don’t eat ice cream very often.
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Rose 05.24.09 at 10:11 pm
I just wanted to add that the reason homemade ice cream freezes up so much harder then store bought is the amount of sugar. The higher the concentration of sugar the lower the freezing point. So the less sweet you make it the harder it will get. One trick is to add a small amount of alcohol since that will also lower the freezing point. Also be generous with the pinch of salt because that will help too.
Do you know what the purpose of the arrowroot powder is? I’ve been curious what it adds to the recipe. So far I’ve made the recipe without the egg yolks since I’ve been afraid of the raw egg and it’s still yummy. I just got some eggs from a very trusted source so I may finally get brave enough to try it the real way.
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Kelly 05.29.09 at 2:20 am
Rose, thanks for that great scoop! (Bad pun, I know…)
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Meagan 08.04.09 at 11:55 am
This is my second time making the Nourishing Traditions vanilla ice cream, using your measurements for 2 QT! I love it, it is soo good and I know that it is soo GOOD for you and it doesn’t leave me guilty. I use 4 cups raw cream and 2/3 cup whole raw milk- the farm I buy the cream from sells it in pints and it’s not cheap! I also made the chocolate recipe for my dad. He liked it, but it wasn’t as chocolaty… so I may melt the cocoa powder and butter in a double boiler and then add it to the ice cream. This might make the chilling tricky because everything has to be VERY cold before it goes into the ice cream maker, but I am sure I will figure something out. Does anyone have any ideas for making it more chocolaty?
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KitchenKop 08.04.09 at 9:31 pm
Hi Meagan,
How about just adding more organic cocoa powder?
Let me know.
Kelly
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Robin 02.16.10 at 7:47 pm
I’m currently trying my first batch of ice cream with raw cream I skimmed from our milk-I’m so excited! I purchased the cuisinart ice cream maker a couple summers ago and absolutely fell in love-it’s so easy to use!
Also, one of my favorite “cookbooks” has to be the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream book-there is a whole section in the beginning that talks the “whys” and science behind making ice cream, which comes in very handy when you’re trying to experiment. Today I’m just making their french vanilla ice cream which I’m trying with honey today instead of sugar (just 1/2 cup)-can’t wait to try it!
As for the chocolate-they have THREE recipes for chocolate in there and they are all AMAZING. Once uses just melted chocolate, and the other two use a combination of melted chocolate and cocoa powder (their “light” chocolate recipe has the least amount of chocolate and still uses a combination of 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate plus 1/4 CUP cocoa powder, so LOTS more than what’s listed above. But yes, you DO need to chill the ice cream after mixing and before adding to the ice cream maker since it won’t be very cold from the melted chocolate.
Also, I find that I like tall, narrow plastic containers the best to store it in. Glass causes ice cream to melt, so I NEVER add ice cream to a glass container right after freezing (when it’s like “soft serve”) or it seems to melt almost instantly.
Hope this helps on the chocolate at least!
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