Improved Low-Carb Ice cream recipe (Chocolate)

Low Carb Ice Cream / Chocolate • requires ice cream machine (I use Cuisinart), and specialty natural sweeteners erythritol and oligofructose (aka fructo-oligosaccharide) • these can be purchased from www.netrition.com or other specialty food online retailers

7/8 cup whole milk

6 oz. baking chocolate ...chill in freezer in advance ... broken into small pieces

5/8 cup erythritol granules

5/8 cup oligofructose powder or granules (“Sweet Perfection” or other brand)

2 cups heavy cream, very cold

1 tbs. vanilla extract

Heat whole milk until just bubbling at edges in double boiler

Meanwhile, break up chocolate into small pieces and put in blender with about 1/3 cup of the erythritol: pulse at highest speed, loosening any compacted material, until finely ground and uniform. Add to hot milk, and the remaining erythritol and the oligofructose and blend with hand blender until smooth. Transfer to a chilled 1½ quart+ pourable large measuring cup and let cool to room temperature. Add heavy cream and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Chill well in refrigerator.

Add to prepared ice cream machine, and run according to manufacturer's directions, although it will take somewhat longer... perhaps 40 min.

The oligofructose helps make the erythritol less prone to recrystallize.

Variation: add pecan pieces or frozen berries right before end, to taste

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This ice cream is obviously not low-fat or low calorie, but erythritol has almost no effective carbohydrate, and oligofructose is a dietary fiber, with low glycemic index and few calories, although it is moderately sweet. Thus, this ice cream has a very low glycemic index and should be genuinely low-carb. The amount of erythritol and oligofructose is more than the amount of sugar that would be used in a normal recipe, but, if anything, this ice cream is slightly less sweet than it would be if made with sugar normally. (Equivalent amount of sugar is about ¾ cup; many similar normal ice cream recipes call for more like 1 cup). These products are expensive, but if you want good tasting low-carb ice cream, there really isn't any other alternative that I've come across. Erythritol is the lowest calorie and lowest glycemic index of the sugar alcohols. Isomalto-oligosaccharride might work as a substitute for oligofructose, but I have no experience with it and haven't located a small-bulk quantity source for it as of yet.

The erythritol has a slightly “cool” sweetness, but this is offset by the oligofructose to some extent. There is no stevia-like or artificial sweetener aftertaste, however.