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First published 7/6/14. Recipe updated2/24/16.
The best ice cream I have ever had was butter pecan.
A couple of summers ago, I was working for my grandparents at The Peach Barn in Holmes County, OH (far away from home). It was hot and sticky, but I got to go driving around for the afternoon with my grandfather on business of some sort. Our “business” led us to Walnut Creek Cheese, a huge “grocery store” of sorts in Walnut Creek, OH. There my grandfather bought me an ice cream cone.
And let me tell you, this was an ice cream cone that spawns legends.
A huge waffle cone topped with homemade butter pecan ice cream. The summer heat made it drip so fast that I could hardly keep up. Up until that moment, I had scoffed at the idea of nuts in my ice cream. But then I had that ice cream cone, and ever since, I have inherited my grandfather’s love of butter pecan ice cream. My love of ice cream really is hereditary.
I’ll never forget the words of my grandfather regarding that ice cream cone: “It’s an experience.”
Fortunately, it’s an experience that I can have at home as well. Without damaging my waist-line.
I recommend sweetening this ice cream with THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder, my preferred sweetener which can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
I use a Cuisinart 1 1/2 qt. Automatic Ice Cream Maker for all my ice cream making needs. Works great.
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- 2 farm fresh eggs*
- 1 T softened/melted salted butter
- 1 T vegetable glycerin, optional but highly recommended
- 2 tsp. butter flavoring
- 1½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. caramel flavoring
- ½ tsp. molasses
- 6-8 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.), to taste
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. glucomannan
- 1 T salted butter
- ⅓ cup chopped pecans
- 1 packet (3/4 tsp.) Truvia
- In a high-powered blender, blend all the ice cream ingredients together until completely smooth. Churn in an automatic ice cream churn according to manufacturer's directions.
- While the ice cream is churning, toast the pecans with the butter in a skillet until toasty and fragrant. Toward the end of toasting, sprinkle the pecans with the Truvia and let them continue toasting a bit longer. When the pecans are done, transfer them to a freezer-safe container and freeze them to chill. When the ice cream is done churning, transfer it to the container as well and stir to evenly distribute the pecans. Freeze to firm up more as desired, or serve immediately. Yields 6 servings.
- Like most homemade ice creams, this recipe is best eaten fresh (unless using vegetable glycerin, which gives you more flexibility-see below). If you have leftovers, freeze them and when you're ready to eat them, either let them sit out on the counter for 30 minutes or so or defrost them for a few seconds in the microwave.
- I recommend adding 1 T of vegetable glycerin to this ice cream to keep it from sticking to the sides of the ice cream maker and to keep it softer and not let it get hard so fast in the freezer. If you freeze the ice cream for an extended length of time in the freezer, it will still freeze hard, but if you let it sit out to soften up a little, the glycerin keeps it scoopable instead of icy. Transfer the ice cream from the freezer to the refrigerator 3 hours before serving for optimum texture, or let it sit out on the counter for 30-40 minutes.
If you don't have an ice cream maker, you could try freezing the mixture in ice cube trays, then blending the cubes in a high-powered blender. You may have to add some almond milk or cream to get the mixture to blend. Stir in the toasted pecans by hand after blending.
Suggested products:
- Ninja blender
- Cuisinart 1 1/2 qt. Automatic Ice Cream Churn
- Vegetable Glycerin
- Glucomannan
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder and other great products are available for purchase from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
I too, was wondering about a butter pecan shake. I recently found some Butter Pecan extract, and I began googling “butter pecan protein shakes.”
I came across one , and while the taste was spot on, the amount wasn’t very much, and the texture was too thin- not thick and creamy.
I was curious- if I halve this recipe, add some protein powder, gluccie, ice, and sunflower lecithin, and blend it all up, would that do okay for a protein shake?
By the way, I live in Holmes County, OH, and I’ve been to Walnut Creek Cheese many times. It is quite the grocery store! =)
I would recommend just taking your favorite base shake recipe (without any extra flavorings and add ins) and using this ice cream recipe as inspiration for flavors/extracts, add the butter pecan flavors (to taste) to the existing shake recipe. 🙂
Briana, in your recipes that call for eggs, what would be the end result of just omitting them? Pasteurized eggs aren’t available in my area, I know myself enough to know I just won’t pasteurize them myself, and no matter how many people say it’s fine to do so I just can’t bring myself to eat raw eggs 🙂 so I’m just wondering what might happen if I just didn’t use egg in this recipe or others that call for it.
For my older recipes like this one (where the egg isn’t cooked) the egg is just for added richness. You could try replacing with a few tablespoons of cream. For my newer recipes that involve cooking the eggs into a custard base, I wouldn’t omit that because it’s necessary for the end texture and volume of the ice cream recipe.
Briana, I have made your Butter Pecan Ice cream a couple times. My husband and I LOVE it! He loves ice cream so I’m providing healthier ice cream for him. The toasted nuts are delicious!! I have used walnuts because pecans aren’t always available. Thank you for all your recipes!!
You are so welcome, Georgia! I’m so glad you enjoy it!
Mine seems to be a bit fluffy/airy instead of hard… Is this normal? Is it the gluccie? I also premixed it a couple of hours before making it
Yes, that’s normal. 🙂 The ice cream won’t be all that hard right out of the ice cream maker – more like a soft serve texture due to the relatively low fat content and vegetable glycerin. You can transfer it to a sealable airtight container and freeze for a few hours to bring it to a harder consistency if you prefer.
I don’t have truvia, do you know if any good substitutes?
Any granulated sweetener should work. 🙂 I believe Truvia is a bit sweeter than Gentle Sweet.
My ice cream maker is a 2 qt. Will this matter or should I return it and get a 1 1/2 qt?
I don’t think there would be a problem making recipes for a 1 1/2 quart ice cream maker in a 2 quart. 🙂
Brianna, this is our absolute favorite ice cream! Thank you so Much!
I’m so glad you like it! <3
Are the ingredients to be Cold from the refrigerator or best room temperature?
I can’t wait to try.
This will be my 1st attempt making ice cream in my new to me (found at thrift store) Cuisinart ice cream maker.
Cold from the fridge. 🙂
Lack of ingredients didn’t deter me from our favorite ice cream flavor. I was out of heavy whipping cream so doubled up the cottage cheese and butter—and no one complained. Subbed chopped almonds for pecans—delish. No glycerin, but still creamy. I increased sweetener quite a bit, personal choice for my super sweet tooth. Can’t wait to try again with all the right stuff. Just goes to show it’s hard to mess up Briana’s recipes.
Haha…love it, Bev! I’m so glad you were able to tweak it to what you had on hand!
I’m trying to enter the drawing for the cheese sampler giveaway that you are doing! Please let me know if I need to comment somewhere else. Thanks!
And, welcome to Louisiana! I’m”right down the road” in Ruston!
All you need to do is enter via the Rafflecopter box at the end of the blog post. 🙂 There are four actions/questions there that you can use to earn 4 entries. If you don’t see the box, try entering from a computer or a different browser.
So yummy! Thanks!
Brianna i am allergic to stevia and have dogs so no xylitol. Butter pecan is may abaolute fav icecream. Will pure monkfruit do in place of stevia extract?
Hi Raquel! I’ve never used monkfruit to sweeten, but I’m guessing it should work if that’s what you’re used to using! If you know how it compares in sweetness to sugar, you could use this sweetener conversion chart to help you convert: https://media.trimhealthymama.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/07222306/THM.Sweetener-Conversion-Chart.pdf
Always taste and adjust to your own personal taste buds, though!
Hi Briana
I am looking to buy an ice cream maker and wondered which one you would recommend.
Thanks
Hi Yvonne! This is the one I use (affiliate link): https://www.briana-thomas.com/recommends/cuisinart-1-12-qt-automatic-ice-cream-churn/
Is caramel flavoring different than caramel extract?
In general, I’d guess that extracts are stronger than flavorings, but it really depends on what brand you use. I just Watkins brand from Walmart. 🙂 If you’re using a different brand, maybe start with less, taste, and adjust.
I wonder, are you using the whole egg? Lots of recipes I found are only using yolks!
Yes, in this recipe I used the whole egg. 🙂
I must say this is my family’s favorite thm friendly dessert. My husband went so far as to say it was the best ice cream he has ever had. I wholeheartedly agree.
When I dont have time to make ice cream I take your preparation of the pecans and put them over berries and add some whipped cream. It tastes just like cobbler!
I don’t have any butter flavoring. Is that a deal breaker, flavor-wise?
It’s definitely better with the butter flavoring, but leaving it out would still be better than no ice cream at all. 😉
Hi Briana, for us simple Drive Thru Sues, do you have a butter pecan shake recipe?
No I don’t, but that’s a good idea!
Made this tonight and “man” is it rich, creamy and downright YUMMY!!! It was a hit with my family.
I’ve never seen vegetable glycerin. Where do you buy it?
I usually get mine off of Amazon. 🙂 There’s a link to the one I buy below the recipe in this post. You can also find it at some health food stores and even grocery stores in the skincare/health aisle. I know that NOW brand is food grade.
Hi Briana, I made this and it tastes bitter! I use THM sweet blend usually, and for your recipe I used THM stevia, like your recipe says. Is there anything I can do with it now that it’s churned and frozen? I feel sad that I can’t eat it. ?
Hmm…that’s strange. If it’s actually too bitter to eat, I would chunk it up and use it in milkshakes. That should help thin down the stevia taste if you don’t like it.
Love this recipe!
On a side note, do you have the measurements to make a version of gentle sweet with pyure stevia and xylitol? I already have the ingredients and on a budget. Thank you!
I’m afraid I don’t, but one of my blogging friends does. Here it is: http://joyfilledeats.com/trim-healthy-mama-gentle-sweet-substitute/
Like the THM Gentle Sweet, it uses erythritol, xylitol, and stevia, but you could probably use more xylitol in place of the erythritol.
Just made this ice cream and it is AMAZING!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Hi Briana! What brand of butter flavoring do you use?
I’ve used a couple of different brands, but I think the one I have now is just Watkin’s brand from Walmart.
Thanks for the recipe. Do you know the carb count for this recipe. Thanks
Hi Karen! The healthy eating lifestyle I follow (you can find more about it here: https://www.briana-thomas.com/starting-trim-healthy-mama/) focuses on not having to count numbers, so I’m afraid I do not know the carb counts.
Thank you so much for this recipe Briana! I can hardly believe I’m not cheating when I eat this ice cream, it is delicious! 🙂 I truly appreciate all the recipes that you post, and just want to say “way to go!” I am a THM newbie, and am always excited to find new recipes to try, especially went they have the title “pecan” and “ice cream”. 😀 God bless!
-Bekah
Thank YOU! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
So I want to make sure I understand the recipe, the eggs are raw? It’s okay to eat them this way? It makes me nervous 🙂
Yes ma’am! I’ve never had a problem eating raw eggs, but if you do, feel free to leave them out and add a few extra tablespoons of cream in their place. The ice cream won’t have as rich a flavor though. Make sure you have fresh eggs with unbroken shells, and if you’re concerned, wash them in warm soapy water before cracking and using them.
You can also buy pasteurized eggs which are considered safe.
What is a doonk in measuring?
A doonk is 1/32 tsp. Most pure stevia extract powders come with a little measuring scoop that size.
I just finished off some *regular* butter pecan ice cream and thought I should check to see if THM has a version I could make. The reason I’m commenting is because I was quite amused at your post since I lived in Holmes County my whole life 🙂 Lived 15 min from Walnut Creek AND HAVE NEVER TRIED WALNUT CREEK CHEESE’S BUTTER PECAN. Seriously. Which is a tragedy, because we just moved to Chicago 3 weeks ago. Anyways, thank you for the recipe and the delightful blog post 🙂
-Teresa
Haha…you definitely need to take a vacation back to your home country for the express purpose of eating some of that ice cream. That’s too funny…