Think about something in your life that you always dreamed of doing. Something that you could never achieve, no matter how much you tried and worked for.

This is something that happened to me because for ages, I had been unsuccessfully looking for a way to eat ice-cream without getting fat. And without feeling like I can sleep right there and then, after eating my super sweet portion, with a half-eaten ice cream cone stuck to my forehead.

But I can now taste the victory! Turns out, no sugar, full-fat dairy ice-cream is a real thing. Once on keto, this was and remains the perfect snack for me, because it tastes just like its sugar-loaded variant. Who would have thought?

via GIPHY

As a parent, I think this is a great snack for kids as well. So before you all go “hold your horses, madam, this stuff is full of fat and fat is bad” on me, I will go on a short tangent here because I think this is very important to clarify. I will share with your after this my super delicious recipe (duh) and the fast & frugal ice-cream machine I used for it.

Is full-fat dairy good or not?

So we can all probably recognize the recent hype on eating low-fat and also feeding low-fat products to your toddlers and kids. Maybe you didn’t take this seriously, but a while back I was sure that eating low-fat throughout the day keeps the doctor away. False.

The problem with this is that first of all, fat is replaced with sugar in most low-fat products and these add up to a high quantity of processed sugar we end up consuming in our diets. I believe this could even be one of the contributing factors to the obesity epidemic these days.

Secondly, because of this whole marketing campaign for low-fat products, we´ve been programmed to see fats of all kinds as harmful. So although well-intended, as parents we might accidentally find ourselves feeding our kids fruits, veggies, and lean meat, forgetting that they need fat as well.

However, new studies insist that we change this popular perception, simply because full-fat dairy is actually proven to be good for us.  Even if low-fat lifestyle recommendations are coming from official governmental organizations. New data also shows that the key here is to consume full-fat dairy without refined carbohydrates, who are actually the ones proven over and over again to be bad for us. This pretty much answers the question, yes, we can eat full-fat dairy but not in combination with refined carbs such as white bread, pizza dough, pasta, pastries, white flour, white rice, sweet desserts, and most breakfast cereals.

For growing kids, especially, fat and cholesterol play important roles in brain development. If they’re under 2 years old, fat should not be restricted. Generally, kids should eat a varied diet with about one-third of calories coming from fat.

While “bad” trans fats should be avoided, good fats are vital for the brain development of your kid. Fun fact: the brain is actually about 60% fat.

via GIPHY

 

Why homemade ice-cream?

Because it`s summer and everybody loves ice cream. Because it is fun and you can go crazy experimenting, adding keto-friendly topping options like peanut butter, nuts, coconut, dark chocolate and so much more. However, you won’t go far without an ice cream machine. Tried and tested. For a creamy, light, non-icy texture, you will need to use an ice-cream machine. There are so many keto no-churn recipes out there who promise the world – yes, adding vodka helps a bit but there is really no comparison to the real deal when it comes to texture. An ice-cream machine incorporates air into the mixture and you can immediately taste the difference.

There are many types of ice-cream machines out there but I went straight for the most frugal one. I was not sorry because even if we usually tend to think that a cheap product is less effective, it is totally not the case here. This budget-friendly ice-cream machine works wonders, it is fast (less than 20 minutes) and the ice-cream resulting is delicious. I chose a brand that is locally sold in Lidl stores in Germany and costs less than 20 dollars. Here is the alternative model from Amazon.

How the machine works

It has a chilled canister, where you pour your liquid ice cream and there is a paddle that will spin the ice-cream mixture until it gets thick. Depending on your machine specifications and the temperature of the mixture, this process should not be longer than 40 minutes.

The only downside I can think of is that the canister must be kept in the deep freezer for 24 hours before using it and you also need to freeze it at a temperature of 0° F or below. Pretty standard.

Keto Raspberry Ice-Cream

I used frozen raspberry for the recipe. You can definitely use fresh ones if you’d like, but this will increase your preparation time. I would recommend you use them frozen if you want to make the recipe faster since this ensures that your ingredients are super cold already and you can skip refrigerating the ice cream base for 4 hours before pouring it into the machine.

What I did was I took out the raspberry from the freezer and let it thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes. I blended the fruit while still almost frozen and added cold milk, egg yolks, and powdered erythritol. I beat the cream until stiff and then mixed it well with the raspberry mixture base. Adding the egg yolks is very important because this is what makes the recipe creamy and soft.

What you need to remember is to first start the machine and only after that pour in the liquid ice cream base. Otherwise, the mixture will freeze onto the freezer bowl and block the ice scraper.

The quantities below are enough to fill in my canister, so if yours is similar in size, be sure not to add more, since the mixture will increase in volume during the processing. For my model, the maximum is 1000 ml ( approx. 1 quart), which translates to approx. 9-10  ice cream scoops.

My recipe with erythritol was ok in texture in about 12 minutes, because from what I found out, adding erythritol freezes the mixture faster. It is still very tasty and I prefer this option even though there is a thin layer that freezes solid on the walls of the canister. You can use powdered Xylitol as an alternative option to avoid this freezing.

So here goes the recipe. I hope you enjoyed it at least 10 percent of how much my 21-month-old daughter enjoyed it. She ended up scooping in out of the bowl with the palms of her hands, which was extremely entertaining to watch.