If your not from Texas you've probably never heard of Blue Bell Ice Cream, but trust me it's very good ice cream.

We made this ice cream for Mothers Day dessert and my kids said it was better than Blue Bell, hence the name. We took bits and pieces from several recipes and put this one together. Either it's been such a long time since we've tasted good ice cream or this was the best ice cream I've ever eaten. If it was any better it would probably kill you.

Better Than Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream

2-1/2 cups heavy cream-19.8
1-1/2 cups whole milk-19.4
3 egg yolks-.9
6 packets Splenda-6
2 teaspoons Stevia Plus-0
1 tablespoon vanilla-1.6
pinch of salt-0

Beat egg yolks with a wire whisk until light and foamy. Beat in sweeteners, vanilla, and salt.

Slowly whisk in the cream and then the milk making sure all is well mixed before adding more.

Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture barely come to a boil, remove from heat. Cool and place in a covered container and place in the refrigerator. Chill for 24 hours.

Whisk ice cream mixture to make sure any thickened parts are well incorporated .

Remove ice cream bucket from the freezer. Add ice cream mixture and churn until the ice cream is as firm as you like. Serve at once or place in a covered container and freeze.

Whole recipe has 47.7 carbs
Makes 12 half cup servings - 4 carbs each

Sounds yummy Betty!

Now, my favorite ice-cream of all time is (or used to be) Blue Bell Chocolate Decadence, which they only rotate in a couple times/year. I've considered having it shipped here, but it would cost $65 per their website. If you can reverse-engineer that using lc ingredients, you'll be my hero.

:cook:

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Emily
Current: Size 10
Goal: Size 8

Egg yolks are key to a rich ice cream.

My DH makes an lc chocolate gelato that is to die for also using yolks.

Don't foget to post your recipe in the recipe database!

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It is always necessary to leave some part
of cooking to improvisation. - Paul Bocuse
Member since 2001

I've been looking for a good ice cream recipe, so I'm looking forward to trying this one. Unfortunately, the weather here has reverted to winter, so it might be a while.

I also would like to try variations, so it's good to have a vanilla to experiment with.

I wonder if it could be made with low carb milk or chocolate milk? Hmm...

That would be 4.5 carbs instead of 19, bringing carbs per serving to about 2.7 or something. Not that it's much difference, but worth a try.

Betty, are you using a regular-sized ice cream maker (electric or crank?) That's my interpretation based on the number of servings that you are getting from the recipe. I'd love to try it but have to get a maker first. Also, have you had left-overs that you stored and if so, did it get pretty hard? A curious mind wants to know!

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>^..^<
Esther

This is the ice cream maker that I'm using. The website says SRP $80.00 but I only paid $45.00 for it at Bed Bath and Beyond.
http://cuisinart.com/cgi-bin/index.c...item_id=ICE-20

As for the low carb milk, others may be able to use it, I can't. It gives me sever intestinal distress. I had a really embarrassing accident because of that milk, I will never use it again.

If you make this ice cream it is really important to chill it for at least 12 hours before you freeze it, 24 is even better. I tried skipping this step and making it the same day and the results were not nearly as good.

The longest any left overs have lasted is a few hours. The ice cream stayed spoonable even after being in the freezer for several hours, so I'm guessing that it will store as well as any store brand.

You have to remember I have teenagers in the house. They eat everything that's not nailed down.

Terra -

The Carb Countdown milk works fabulously. We use the 2% with a combo of cream and it's excellent.

__________________
It is always necessary to leave some part
of cooking to improvisation. - Paul Bocuse
Member since 2001

Betty, thanks for the information. The maker that you have is along the lines of one that I would like to get for myself. Last year there was a thread that discussed homemade LC ice cream getting rock hard after being stored in the freezer which is why I asked about the leftovers. I was pretty sure from your past posts that things don't last long around your home thanks to your teens. :-)

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Esther

Hmmm, I have that same unit, but I've never made fully satisfactory lc ice cream with it - it always gets rock hard after storing in the freezer over night. I've used recipes that are similar to to the one above (a cooked custard of cream, milk, egg, splenda), but the problem was always in the poor texture after freezing.

If anyone finds this recipe stays scoopable after freezing, I'll definitely dig the Cusinart out of the garage sale pile.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

teelbee-
I finally had enough left over out of the last batch to spend the night in the freezer. It did get pretty hard, I don't know if you could call it rock hard, but it definitely isn't spoon-able.

I'm eating some as I type this message and as it sits in my bowl it's beginning to soften and the silky texture is returning. It's not the perfect bowl of soft serve ice cream, but it's very good.

As I take these last few bites, it has softened to it's original smooth creaminess. It would have been much softer if I'd been patient enough to let it sit in the bowl for a few minutes before I started eating. The texture isn't as good as store bought, but I think the flavor is better, I'm very pleased with it.

I may try adding a couple of teaspoons of Glycerin to the next batch and see if that helps keep it a little softer in the freezer.

You might want to hang on to your machine a little while longer, it would be ashame if you get rid of it and we come up with a killer ice cream.

Gesh,That sounds good.

I've just cooked up a batch, and I love the warm, custardy scent. It already smells like dessert!

I'm going to make half of it vanilla, and the other half something like butter pecan. I'm still trying to work out exactly how I'll do it.

The ice cream was really good. My husband and son both liked it. They both requested chocolate cherry ice cream, and when I went to the store, there were the first cherries of the season, so how could I resist? I didn't eat too many of the cherries myself, and I used low carb chocolate in it, too. Yum.

Terrasanct-
I'm glad you liked it.

One of my favorite things to do with this recipe is as soon as it's finished cooking and is still very hot stir about 3 Tbsp. of Maxwell House Instant Coffee (or to taste) into the ice cream mix.

Put it in the frig. and let it sit overnight. Then turn on the ice cream machine and pour in the mix and let it go until the ice cream is almost as hard a you like it. While your waiting for your ice cream to churn, chop up a 4 ounce sugar free chocolate bar into small pieces about the size of a chocolate chip and add it to the ice cream a little while before the ice cream is ready.

I love coffee ice cream and the chocolate is great with it.