Description
This strawberry ice cream is so gorgeous and fluffy and thick. It has an almost marshmallowy texture. You won’t need much to satisfy you as it’s quite rich! THM S, low carb
Unless you’re an ice cream guru, don’t change the ingredients around if you want to maintain a scoopable, creamy result. There’s kind of a science to it.
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberry puree (just blended up strawberries – measure after blending)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup THM Gentle Sweet made with xylitol if you want the ice cream to be scoopable out of the freezer (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable glycerin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon glucomannan
Instructions
Add all the ingredients except for the glucomannan to a blender. Add the glucomannan and then blend immediately to avoid lumps. Don’t blend long – just until everything is smooth and combined.
Churn the ice cream base in a 1.5 quart ice cream churn according to manufacturer’s directions. Let it churn until it reaches a firm soft serve consistency. This recipe (as written) fluffs up to fill a 1.5 quart ice cream churn due to the high cream content (the cream expands as it churns).
Transfer the ice cream to a storage container (I like this Tupperware Rectangle Modular Mate) and freeze to firm up. Overnight is great.
This ice cream as written is scoopable right out of the freezer!
Notes
Puree made from fresh or frozen strawberries will work in this recipe.
I don’t recommend adding chunks of strawberry to the ice cream – they will freeze solid. You can always top the ice cream with some sliced fresh strawberries or a “syrup” of mashed frozen/thawed strawberries with a little sweetener, though.
Possible additions: natural peanut butter for a PB&J flair, almond extract, a pinch of cardamom, the chocolate chips from this mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe
Sweetener: THM Gentle Sweet (made with xylitol) is my favorite sweetener to use for ice cream because it provides the best balanced sweetness and creamy, scoopable texture of any sweetener I have tried. It’s important to use a xylitol based sweetener (like Gentle Sweet) because xylitol keeps the ice cream scoopable after being in the freezer overnight. Xylitol is part of the key to the scoopability of this ice cream, so substituting other sweeteners could change that. Xylitol does cause digestive upset in some people and is poisonous to dogs so I understand that not everyone wants to use it, but you may sacrifice scoopability if you substitute other sweeteners. Feel free to add more sweetener if desired.
Vegetable glycerin: I don’t recommend omitting the vegetable glycerin. It helps keep the ice cream from sticking to the ice cream maker and improves the creamy texture of the ice cream.
Citric acid: This really makes the strawberry flavor pop. You can find it in the canning/preserving section of Walmart or a grocery store.
Glucomannan: Glucomannan is a natural thickening agent. In this recipe it acts as an emulsifier that makes the ice cream creamy and adds a bit more body. If you don’t have it you could try substituting xanthan gum in its place.
To make this ice cream lower calorie: You’re welcome to try a cup of cream and a cup of half and half in place of the two cups of heavy whipping cream in this recipe, but the ice cream will be more icy and not as creamy. It would still be delicious! The lower the fat content, the meltier I like the ice cream to be when eating it.
Allergy info: gluten free, egg free, nut free
This Classic Strawberry Ice Cream recipe is an update of the recipe found on page 229 of Necessary Food, my first cookbook. This new recipe has better texture and scoopability. Updated May 2022. (You can also find the old recipe at the bottom of this blog post.)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 0 mins
- Category: Ice Cream
- Method: Churn
- Cuisine: THM S, low carb, sugar free
