My weekend of experimenting resulted in this -- allulose chocolate ice cream that's rich, creamy, and surprisingly high in protein. And no protein powder required! The secret is a combination of Fairlife milk and nonfat dry milk powder, which boosts protein while keeping the texture smooth and scoopable.
Flavor and Texture
For a lower sugar ice cream, this is surprisingly rich tasting, creamy, and smooth with a scoopable texture straight from the freezer. It's not too airy, and doesn't have the iciness you sometimes get with lighter ice cream bases. I tried to keep the combination of dairy, sweeteners, and stabilizers balanced and feel like this version works and is still open to even more improvisation.
Chocolate Flavor
The cocoa powder you use really does matter here. I've tested with Guittard Cocoa Rouge and a Valrhona blend, and both give the ice cream a deep, smooth chocolate flavor. The Dutch processed pairs especially well with milk and gives a round, clear chocolate taste, but natural cocoa might be good too. For extra chocolate flavor, I tested using chocolate syrup in place of some of the golden syrup. It enhanced the chocolate flavor somewhat, but also made the ice cream just a tiny bit more icy. I'm tempted to try swapping a tablespoon of the milk powder for malted milk powder!
Method and Substitutions
This is an easy ice cream recipe, especially if you've made ice cream before. If you're new, it's still very doable, but I recommend following the recipe as written the first time.
- Xanthan gum: Xanthan gum improves texture and helps prevent iciness. Mix it with the dry ingredients so it disperses evenly and doesn't clump. You can leave it out, but the ice cream may be slightly less smooth and more prone to ice crystals.
- Quick cooling: Quick cooling in an ice bath helps preserve fresh dairy flavor and improves texture. If you prefer, you can let the mixture cool at room temperature and then refrigerate, but it takes longer. You can also wash and reuse freezer bags if that's a concern.
- Sweeteners: This recipe uses a combination of allulose, sugar, and syrup for optimal texture and scoopability. Changing the sweeteners will affect not just sweetness, but how soft or firm the ice cream freezes. But with allulose, syrup and vodka all in the mix, you know you're going to get a scoopable ice cream. I haven't tested without the vodka, but I'll bet it would be fine without it.
A Few More Ingredient Notes
For accuracy, weigh ingredients whenever possible. The allulose amount is 130 grams, which is roughly ⅔ cup -- but weighing is much more reliable. I've used Lyle's Golden Syrup in all my tests, but corn syrup will work just fine. For the milk powder, use a brand with a clean, pleasant flavor. I like Bob's Red Mill, but any good-quality nonfat dry milk will work. And as mentioned, you should be able to leave out the vodka. It's staple around here these days (for ice cream, but someone told me if you mix it with cherry juice before bedtime...).
Nutrition Counts
The nutrition macros are just an estimate I came up with by adding the calories and the total weight and diving total calorie counts by grams (1600/1137 = 1.4 per calories per gram). A half cup serving can weigh anywhere from 80 to 130 grams depending on overrun and how dense you pack your half cup, so it make more sense to measure ice cream by weight.
Recipe
Chocolate Ice Cream With Allulose and More Protein
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup allulose powder (use the weight if possible) (130 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum, use a scant teaspoon
- 2 tablespoons sugar (25 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons nonfat milk powder (Bob's Red Mill) (32 grams)
- ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (25 grams)
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup or corn syrup (40 grams)
- 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup or another tablespoon golden syrup (20 grams)
- 2 large eggs (100 grams)
- 2 ½ cups Fairlife whole milk, ultra-filtered (600 grams)
- ½ cup heavy cream (120 grams)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 30 grams dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon vodka (14 grams)
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl with a spout, mix together the allulose, xanthan gum, sugar, salt, milk powder and cocoa powder until evenly blended. It's important to mix xanthan gum with dry ingredients to help keep it from lumping. Add the syrups, eggs and ½ cup of the milk and Stir or whisk until smooth and thick.
- Pour remaining 2 cups of milk and the ½ cup cream in a saucepan and heat until mixture begins to simmer.
- Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture to temper, then pour it all back into the saucepan.
- Stir constantly (I use a heavy duty heat proof rubber scraper) over medium-low heat until mixture is 180 degrees F. This should only take a few minutes. It will start to look foamy and stick to the sides of the pot. Don't let it boil over.
- Strain the mixture into a clean bowl and add the chocolate. Whisk or stir to melt the chocolate, then stir in the vanilla bean paste.
- Pour the custard into a heavy duty freezer bag and submerge in ice water for about 30 minutes to quick cool. At this point it will be pretty cold and you could probably just go ahead and churn it, but I usually recommend letting it chill for at least 2 more hours.
- When the ice cream is very cold, add 1 tablespoon of vodka to the freezer bag. Close it and shake it up a little just to mix. Note: There's no reason I know of that you can't add the vodka earlier in the process, I am just in the habit of adding it last and that's the way I've been making it.
- Pour the mixture from the bag to the ice cream maker and churn as manufacturer directs until mixture is soft serve/frozen.
- Scrape into pints. Freeze until firm (overnight). The ice cream should still be quite scoopable on day 2.
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