Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

I got an ice cream maker for my birthday.  Woohoo!!  Thanks sis!!

I've been trying to eliminate sugar from my diet so I'm finding regular ice cream much too sweet.  Now that I have my own ice cream maker, I can control all the ingredients from the type of milk, cream and cocoa, to the amount and type of sweetener.  So, I used local dairy and organic, fair trade ingredients.

Not sure this really qualifies as dark chocolate since there is milk and cream in it but it has very little sugar so it tastes like dark chocolate.  If you want to experiment, you can use other extracts besides vanilla.  For instance, orange would be nice.  This is on my list of experiments along with using stevia instead of sucanat (my son's girlfriend is diabetic and can't have sugar).  Other people use honey or maple syrup which are GAPS friendly.  These, however, will change the taste significantly.  I'm not a maple fan so that is off the menu for me.  I'll probably use honey at some point but not in my chocolate ice cream.

BTW, the coffee brings out the chocolate flavor.   You won't actually taste it in the ice cream.  Hubs says he can taste it but that was only after he saw me adding it.  When I used it before he never mentioned it.  Of course, you can always leave it out or add extra for mocha ice cream.

Ingredient
makes 5 cups

3/4c cocoa powder (I've been using Rapunzel)
4T sucanat (also known as rapadura)
1t instant coffee powder (don't use actual coffee because you don't want the water in the cream)
Generous pinch of Celtic sea salt
1 1/2t of vanilla extract (I actually use vanilla powder)
1c whole milk
2c heavy cream

1. Sift dry ingredients, including the vanilla, into the cup of milk in a saucepan.
2. Heat on stove while stirring to get ingredients to combine well.  Sugar and salt should dissolve into the liquid.  Do NOT let it boil.  You can taste test this and add more sugar, coffee or extract if desired.  Just remember you still have to add the cream which will sweeten it up some more and change the taste profile.
3. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
4. Add cream and stir well
5. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
6. Follow your ice cream maker's directions.

Yogurt Whip

I've been eating sliced fruit topped with yogurt for years.  My favorites being sliced bananas, strawberries and/or kiwis topped with vanilla or strawberry yogurt.  Now that I'm on a full fat sugarless kick it is next to impossible to find off the shelf whole milk yogurt that doesn't have some form of sugar added to it.  Bums me out.

During the fall I did dabble in making my own yogurt with great success using Viili room temperature culture from Cultures for Health and mixing in mango puree.  However, due to a sudden illness in December that has lingered and a bad med reaction this past week I haven't had the energy to get back to making yogurt from scratch.

Not wanting to forgo one of my favorite healthy snacks I did manage to find full fat plain organic yogurt in large tubs.  So I got that and some bananas and strawberries.  And today I made this which turned out absolutely delightful.  Making it in the food processor adds air into the yogurt making it light and fluffy and a wonderful treat.  Of course, with the banana it doesn't need any sweetener at all so this has no added sugar.  Woohoo!  Success!!

Of course, I've listed a ton of substitutions so feel free to get creative.  I'm seeing all sorts of odd combinations in the supermarket.  I can hardly wait until the local farmer's market opens again so I can experiment with different kinds of in season fruits.

This can be made in slightly larger batches and kept in mason jars in the fridge for later use.  I would only make enough for a day or two since berries tend to not last very long once they are chopped up.  Of course this doesn't last long in my house anyway so I haven't tested the upper limit on storage yet.

On another good note, having the fat combined with the fruit slows the absorption of the fruit sugars into the blood stream.  Way less of a blood sugar spike after eating it and the sensation of fullness lasts longer.  According to WAPF the fat also aids in the digestion of the vitamins in the fruit.  For more about fats in the diet see: Weston A Price Foundation website.

Ingredients
serves 1-2

1 banana
generous handful of strawberries
1-2c organic, plain, whole milk yogurt

1. Wash and hull strawberries.
2. Peel banana.
3. Puree fruit in blender or food processor.
4. While processor is running, add enough yogurt to fully incorporate fruit.
5. Don't worry about it being lumpy.  So you actually have a chew an odd piece of fruit here or there.  Eat up or store in mason jars in fridge for later.

Substitutions for the fruit:

• Fresh pineapple or canned in its own juice
• Organic, no sugar added, applesauce
• Other berries such as blackberries or raspberries
• Kiwi and banana
• Mango or papaya with shredded coconut
• Orange or clementine segments (but the covering has to be removed from the segments)
• Peaches, plums and/or nectarines (pits removed of course)
• Figs, persimmons or pomegranate seeds for something exotic
• Shredded organic coconut
• Lemon curd (except this has sugar in it unless homemade)

Substitutions for the dairy:

• Full fat organic coconut milk (comes in cans or frozen: if buying cans looks for BPA free)

Add ins:

• Extracts such as vanilla, orange or lemon
• Powders such as vanilla or cocoa
• Local organic honey
• Expeller pressed organic coconut oil or coconut cream
• Nut butters such as almond or cashew

Kiwi Dessert

This is one of my favorite fruit desserts.  Easy to make and can be served after a meal or makes a great low GI (glycemic index) between meal snack.

Ingredients
serves 1

1 kiwi
1/2 banana
1c organic lemon yogurt (NOT custard style)

Peel kiwi and slice.  Slice banana.  Stir fruit into yogurt.

Other fruits can be used such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.  When using berries make sure to wash and dry them first.  Different yogurt flavors can be used as well.  Vanilla is my second favorite flavor for this dessert but really anything goes.  If you can eat wheat, graham crackers go really well with this and are a nice compliment to the lemon flavor.