If you’re on a diet:Â
You will love this recipe because it makes a gigantic serving for only 40 calories. (Seriously, the serving is huge.) Who eats a 1/2 cup serving of ice cream anyways? 😕
If you’re not on a diet:
You will love this recipe because you can up the calories by making it into a brownie sundae, by pouring on chocolate syrup, or by opting for the peanut butter version. Yes, there is a peanut butter version.
Above:Â a sundae with a Chocolate Workout Brownie.
Highly recommend those brownies. As for the ice cream: it could not be easier to make, and there are unlimited variations—you can add coffee, mint extract, fruit, chocolate chips… I haven’t even begun to try out all the combinations I’ve dreamed up for this incredibly versatile recipe.
Volume Ice Cream
(Makes 1 huge serving)
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract (or about 1/4 of a vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise and scraped out)
- 1/16 tsp salt (trust me)
- sweetener (such as 1-2 stevia packets or 1-2 tbsp sugar)
- 1 cup almond milk (I used unsweetened Silk. See below for substitution notes.)
- optional: add-ins such as fruit, peanut butter, or extracts
Mix the ingredients together in 1 or 2 shallow plastic containers. Freeze. (You could also use an ice cube tray.) Once frozen, pop the blocks out of the container (I thaw for 30 seconds in the microwave first) and blend in your Vita-Mix. (If you don’t have a vita-mix, you’ll probably have to thaw longer, but you can still get a yummy ice milk.)
This ice cream—when made with almond milk—has a very light texture (perfect for summer). For a creamier texture that’s more like real ice cream, try using at least 1/4c canned coconut milk (or maybe even creamer?). You can, of course, also sub other non-dairy milks for the almond. But if you do this, play around with the amount of vanilla extract, sweetener, and add-ins. (For example, an already-sweetened milk will probably need less added sweetener.) To make it look like real ice cream, scoop out with an ice-cream scoop.
Warning:
This is an extremely voluminous recipe, so if you’re like me and need to watch that you don’t get full before you’ve taken in enough calories, I recommend eating this as part of a sundae or adding some extras to the basic recipe. ‘Cause it will fill you right up!
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Recipe of The Day:
Deep Dish Cookie Pie (Vegan, GF)
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I absolutely LOVE ice cream, but definitely not the high calorie, high fat content. This looks like a wonderful alternative. I can’t wait to try it!
I got so excited about this recipe that I’ve made it despite not having any vanilla essence OR coconut essence in the house! Cinnamon it is 🙂
Katie, I made this today and it’s so good! I am trying to stay away from added sugars and this is so good with vanilla stevia. I made it in a non-Vita and you are right, it’s kind of like a Frosty – but a delicious, healthy Frosty. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thanks 🙂
I’m so excited you liked it! 🙂
adding this with some frozen banana might make a tasty addition =)
I don’t know how to say this without being creepy but… I LOVE YOU!!
I realized I was lactose-intolerant a few months ago and had a really hard time switching to dairy-free foods. I’ve tried so many of your recipes (and stalkeringly commented after making each one because I ended up loving it so much 🙂 )because they really taste like the real deal – they don’t taste like so many vegan treats do. but converting to a dairy-free diet I had such a hard time giving up ice cream! I LOVE ice cream and banana soft-serve wasn’t quite cutting it for me. I tried this today and it was delicious (although it didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as yours did). thank you Katie!!
LOL! Oh I love you right back! So ha! Now we’re both creepy ;).
(P.S. my trick is scooping it out with an ice-cream scoop!)
Word. This is SO good! I actually like it better than regular ice cream. Yes, it’s true! It has an icy and yet creamy taste all at the same time. It’s awesome!
I only tried the vanilla so far, but I’m excited to try other flavors :).
I left a remark about this under your cookie pie link, but in case there are some folks reading this that aren’t reading the other, it’s the BOMB! Low in calories? No freakin’ way…..WAY! It is the perfect thing for the heat of summer. Katie has done it AGAIN! xo to Katie
how do you get it like ice cream texture? mine was all icey!
If you want a richer texture, you need to use a higher-fat milk, such as coconut milk. With almond milk, it will have a less-rich taste, but you can get it to look like ice cream by scooping it out with an ice cream scoop.
Hope it’s OK for me to give my 2 cents….I used the 35 cal per serving almond milk from Silk and an ice cream scoop. I found that if you scoop it an wait just a couple of minutes it helps. If you dive in immediately, than it seems more icey…if you give it a couple of minutes for the cold to come off of it, it truly makes a difference.
me and my friend made this tonight and topped it with something we found in the grocery store…Cupcake Pebbles cereal! seriously tasted and smelled like cake batter in a cereal. made the ice cream amazing and like crunchy cake battery goodness. you should try it! (yes they are in fact vegan, so happy! good for ice cream toppping)
Cupcake pebbles? LOL there’s a cupcake cereal now? Too fun! I will keep my eyes peeled!
This looks incredible!
I was curious; Do you think vanilla soy milk would work for this recipe?
You’re amazing with all these delicious food ideas; Keep’em coming 😛
It would! As I wrote in my recipe, you might have to change the sweetener amount (and maybe even the amount of vanilla). But it will work with any non-dairy milk! It’s more of an ice-milk texture with soymilk or almond milk, and more of an ice-cream texture with coconut milk. I actually like the ice milk texture better!