If you’re on a diet:
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: 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!
Recipe of The Day:
Deep Dish Cookie Pie (Vegan, GF)
youre a genius!! 😀 lol but really I love how you have a variety of recipes/recipe ideas to fit different tastebuds and lifestyles.esp for those of us on a diet/trying to lose healthily it’s a godsend psst—>if you use 1 T molasses and add ground cinnamon nutmeg and ginger to taste it tastes like a warm fall type ice cream or gingerbready 😀 😛
Oh wow, that sounds so good! I love molasses, but don’t think to use it often enough!
ok CCK, I’ll level with you- I NEVER think your recipes will work. And I’m ALWAYS wrong!!
I tried the blondies this weekend (after being disgusted with the idea of beans) and prctically licked the plate clean. I tried the ice cream for the first time (after spending a week thinking it will taste like ice) and am LOVING it!
Awww this made me so happy!
im so glad that i found this blog! you seriously rock.
anyhow i have a question.. i like my ice cream creamier so using only 1/3c of coconut milk? or did you mean to add it with 1 c of almond milk? so that makes 1 and 1/3 c? OR 1/3 with the remaining of almond milk to make it 1 c? i hope i make sense..?
PLUS ii absolutely hate coconut! does that taste strongly..? how come that it is more creamier than the almond one? just wondering..
thanks!
You want a total of 1 cup of liquid.
The coconut milk (the kind from a can) will make it richer because its fat content is much higher than, say, Almond Breeze. But maybe you could try non-dairy creamer (such as Silk) instead? I don’t think it has a coconut flavor with the milk, but I am a coconut lover so maybe I am biased.
If you do try replacing some of the non-dairy milk with creamer, let me know how it goes! 🙂
I just made a double batch of the vanilla ice cream, and it’s in the freezer right now. I’m hardly waiting to enjoy some this evening! 🙂 Thanks! 🙂
Oooo I hope you like it!!
this is AMAZING! so delicious, my whole family enjoyed it 🙂 its perfect because it fits with my diet but still lets me have my daily fix of ‘ice cream’.
im also making a grocery list now of ingredients from your other, amazing looking recipes (most notably the cookie cake!) to make soon! i love your site, its so inspiring!
Awww Shannon, that makes me SO happy!
As much as I love your attempts at healthy desserts, this simply isn’t “ice cream.” It’s frozen, icy milk with a little sweetener (more like a slushie of sorts). Seems a little misleading, no?
If you read my post, I say right in the directions that you need to use coconut milk or creamer or it’ll be more like ice milk texture. So please read my posts fully before accusing me of misleading my readers.
hey but doesnt a cup of skim milk have 80 calories not 60? im so confused :S
I don’t use skim milk in my recipes. I use unsweetened Silk almond milk.
OK, Katie, if this ice cream recipe works…I’m going to have to marry you.
LOL!
Alright, Katie. So I tried it. It’s a bit icy for me, although that could be b/c I needed to microwave it more or spin it on my Big Boss Blender some more (I traded in my Magic Bullet for the Big Boss — it’s better machine….but they don’t make ’em anymore).
Perhaps there’s an ingredient one could add to smooth it out a bit? Half a banana? Maple Syrup? I dunno.
That said, I’ll still marry you…but only if you ask nice. (A guy needs a little romance, ya know? Heh-heh.)
Did you see my recipe notes? First and foremost is that it WILL NOT be the ice cream texture unless you use a vita-mix. 🙁
But you can try to make it creamier with coconut milk or creamer. Read the notes at the end of the recipe, but really you’ll only be able to get a Wendy’s-frosty texture with a regular blender, no matter what.
Oh, I DID see those notes…which is why I said it’s a bit too icy FOR ME. I forgot about the coconut milk suggestion tho’.
The Big Boss is like the Magic Bullet, and it generally does a better job than the bullet in terms of blending; I guess the Vita-Mix has an entirely different method.
That’s OK…I DID enjoy it! And I still think you and your site are AWESOME! So turn that frowny emoticon upside down! ;] I’ll give it another go at some point and experiment a little more and report back!
Oh the vita-mix is in a whole other league! It’s just way more powerful than any other blender (except maybe a blendtec), which is also why it’s more expensive. (Isn’t that how stuff always works? Boo.)
Here ya go: 🙂 🙂
Well, gosh, don’t over do it.
=op
So…..I made the recipe and liked it SO incredibly much that I decided to use the rest of the milk to make ice cream before it went bad. It measured 4 c and so I increased each ingredient by 4. So I pulled it out of the freezer (SO excited to eat some more) AND….it tastes like SALT! What did I do wrong? I’m guessing you shouldn’t increase the salt that much?! 🙂 Can it be fixed?! Can I blend it and put more sugar in there? Or add some more milk to it? PLEASE help! I don’t think I can eat the other servings. 🙁
Oh no! Yeah, that’s the weird thing about salt… it doesn’t seem to increase the same way as other ingredients. Hmmm… can you possibly make up another serving without ANY salt and combine it with the ones you already have?
Would skim milk work for this recipe?
Sorry, I don’t know.