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Recipe updated 10/26/15.
Most of my ice cream recipes are on the light side, and they are very good (in my humble opinion). However, there are times when I feel I need a richer ice cream recipe to complement a special dessert. That is where this French vanilla ice cream comes in.
Pair this French vanilla ice cream with a some chocolate cake and you have something worthy of a party. And guess what?! There’s a chocolate layer cake recipe coming to this blog very very soon!
This recipe is just another way to use up your egg yolks if you find yourself using lots of whites but no yolks. Need more egg yolks recipes? Look here! Need something to do with egg whites? I’ve got you covered.
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You can pin this ice cream recipe from my Ice Cream board here.
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.

- 2½ cups unsweetened almond milk (or carton coconut milk for a nut free version)
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 egg yolks
- ½ tsp. glucomannan
- ¼ + ⅛ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.)
- 1 T salted butter
- 1 T vegetable glycerin (optional but highly recommended)
- Blend together the first 5 ingredients, either in a blender or using a stick blender. Transfer to a nonstick saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until boiling, whisking often so the mixture doesn't stick and burn. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the last four ingredients.
- Bring the mixture to room temperature, either by letting it sit out on the counter, chilling in the refrigerator, or by means of an ice water bath.
- Churn in an automatic ice cream churn according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for an additional hour to firm up, if desired. Yields about 4-5 servings of ice cream.
- 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.
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Curious why you chose to use pure stevia in this recipe…it almost seemed bitter to me.
This is one of my older recipes from back when I used only stevia for the most part due to budget (and because there weren’t as many sweetener options available). Nowadays I use a combination of xylitol and stevia in ice cream. Feel free to use your favorite sweetener to taste! I don’t find the THM brand to be bitter, but taste buds vary a lot with alternative sweeteners.
What can you do if you don’t want to buy a churn?
A churn really gives the best texture, but there are a few non-churn suggestions here in this post: https://www.briana-thomas.com/your-healthy-ice-cream-faqs-answered/
My husband tried this and announced, “This recipe is here to stay!” Thanks, Briana!
Well that’s awesome! Thanks for trying it!
Looks like a great ice cream recipe. How many carbs are in a serving? How much is a serving? I’m going to order the ice cream maker soon. Thanks for a great website!
Hi there! I don’t usually calculate nutrition info on my recipes since the healthy eating lifestyle I follow doesn’t require it (Trim Healthy Mama), but MyFitnessPal is a super easy way to find nutrition facts! This recipe makes 4-5 Briana-sized servings. 😉
You may want to check out one of my newest ice cream recipes. In it I used some things I’ve learned for a better texture, and I also provided the nutritional info >> https://www.briana-thomas.com/basic-vanilla-scoopable-ice-cream/
I am new to your site and fairly new to THM. Is there a recommended way to keep the yolks until ready to use them? I find myself either getting the egg whites in carton or throwing away the yolks because I don’t know how to keep them until I need them.
The only way I know of is to keep them in the fridge until ready to use. You can freeze them for some purposes, but it doesn’t work for ice cream because they solidify when frozen and thawed and then won’t blend up smoothly. We usually just buy carton egg whites for the recipes that use egg whites. 🙂
You can cover the yolks with a little cool water in a small dish and they keep quite nicely for a few days.
Love ice cream and french vanilla, great recipe!.
Can you use xantham gum in place of glucomannan?
I’m sure you could. 🙂
Briana, is there a reason for using only yolks rather than the whole egg?
I’m not sure how egg whites would do in a cooked pudding. Never tried it, but feel free to give it a whirl! Most ice cream recipes always just call for egg yolks, so I went with standard procedure.
I made this tonight and found I had to add more sweetener after taste-testing. In most THM recipes I tend to use less sweetener, but if found this recipe to be just slightly sweet. When I checked my conversion chart, it showed 6 doonks as being equal to 1/3 cup sugar. Did you intend for this to be a barely sweet ice cream? I was using Now stevia, but added two more doonks, plus 1.5 tsp THM sweet blend and about 12 drops of liquid stevia. I haven’t frozen it yet. Will it taste sweeter after freezing? Thanks for coming up with all your wonderful recipes! I enjoy trying them all the time.
Hmm, I wouldn’t say this turns out just slightly sweet, but I could definitely see where personal preferences could lead someone to want it sweeter. In my experience, freezing actually tends to mask sweetness. The THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder has a very balanced flavor, so I think that’s why you can use so much less of it and still get an enjoyable end product. You did the right thing by tasting and adjusting, though. 🙂
This stuff is SO yummy!!!!