We're snowed in this week, so naturally, I'm doing what everyone does on a snow day—making allulose ice cream. I had bought a bag of allulose for my keto brownie recipe but had never tried it in ice cream. It worked really well!
Boiling Milk Mixture, No Eggs
My ice cream base is a riff on the Jeni’s base, with adjustments for the allulose and flavors. Jeni of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams boils the milk in her ice cream base to remove excess water and minimize ice crystal formation. The boil also concentrates the milk’s proteins and sugars, creating a smoother, creamier texture that lets you forego the eggs.
Sugar-Free Ice Cream
This ice cream is almost sugar-free, but not quite, There's natural sugar in the milk itself. Also, I used vanilla bean paste in place of extract and added 1 ½ tablespoons of honey for texture and to help mask any potential aftertaste from the allulose. If you want a more neutral flavoring or aren't a honey fan, you could use maple, corn or agave syrup. The syrup gets added along with the flavoring right before putting the custard in the ice bath.
Ice Bath or Snow Bath!
And speaking of ice baths, they are optional for ice cream. Half the time I don't use one because I can never find any ice, but since the porch was covered with snow I made an ice batch using my wok (almost any bowl fits in a wok) and snow. Ice baths just speed up the ice cream making process. You'll still need to chill the custard, but only for 2 hours or so.
Add-Ins
This allulose-sweetened ice cream is fine on its own, but if you have some keto brownies, toss them in. You can also make a chocolate version by adding Dutch-processed cocoa powder. I tried this with a portion of the ice cream and it was even better than the vanilla. Unfortunately I did not measure the cocoa powder, so I'll update when I make the next batch.
The Final Scoop
Allulose has its pros and cons with the big pro being it has fewer calories and shouldn't spike blood sugar. I still find it to have an aftertaste, but maybe worth dealing with. Sugar still tastes better, but the allulose is an ingredient I will continue to experiment with in ice cream -- maybe again by itself or in combination with the sugar. I've made the base many times with sugar only and while it's always smooth, the allulose made it smoother and creamier. It also stayed soft. The first picture shows how it looked straight out of the freezer with no softening time.
Using Sugar
If you’ve read this far and decided you’d rather use sugar, go for it! This is a fantastic ice cream recipe either way. Just use ⅔ cup sugar instead of a full cup if making that swap.
Recipe
Allulose Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp. cream cheese, softened (42 grams)
- 2 cups whole milk (480 grams)
- 4 tsp. cornstarch (10 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream (280 grams)
- 1 cup allulose (see note about using sugar) (200 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tbsp. honey or corn syrup or agave or maple syrup (30 grams)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla plus more as needed**
Instructions
- Put the cream cheese in a microwave-safe mixing bowl and soften it by heating for 10 seconds. Stir it well, making sure it's very soft.
- In a small bowl or custard cup, stir together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of the milk to make a slurry. Set aside.
- Add the remaining milk to a large pot. I use an 8 quart pot which is overly large, but it helps prevent boil overs. Along with the milk, add the cream, allulose and salt.
- Bring to a boil over medium high. Once it's at a boil, maintain a rolling boil for 4 minutes, keeping a close eye on it and adjusting heat as necessary to prevent a boil over. You can give it a stir occasionally if you need to. It should be a steady, rolling boil, and you should start to smell the cooked milk. Please don't skip the 4 minute boil.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to the heat and bring to a boil again, still being mindful of boilovers and whisking just until thickened, about 2 minutes. It won't be as thick as pudding, but more like a thin gravy or white sauce.
- Remove the pot from the stove. Measure out about ¼ cup of the hot milk and add to the softened cream cheese. Whisk until smooth, then gradually whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture. Let cool just slightly and stir in the honey (or syrup) and vanilla.
- Now it's time to let it cool down and you have some options. You can quick cool it in a tub of ice water or just let it cool in the refrigerator. I typically do a combination of both. Submerge the bowl in a larger bowl (I use a wok) and let sit, whisking often, for 20 minutes. Cover, then transfer to the refrigerator until it is chilled. The ice bath should give you a good head start so the custard should be cold within two hours.
- Pour mixture into an ice cream maker. Churn according to manufacturer directions. Towards the very end, add brownie chunks or any other add-ins.
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