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This recipe was updated 2/24/16.
‘Tis the season for peppermint, eh? (Now I sound Canadian. Must be the cold weather we’ve been having.)
It’s also the season for soup! Exciting news: my ebook is done! Visit the 12 Cozy Soups page for details.
One of my favorite-ever Christmas treats is the peppermint milkshake that Chick-fil-A so graciously sells during the holiday season. While Gwen has already recreated that milkshake in healthy form, I decided to make it into an ice cream flavor. Since I’m all into ice cream and all that. I would call this recipe quite successful.
If you don’t have an ice-cream maker and don’t wish to buy one at the moment, you could always add some peppermint extract to this single-serve ice cream recipe that doesn’t require a blender. Another alternative would be to follow the steps I have laid out in the “Notes” section of the recipe below.
There are lots of things you could serve with this ice cream to make it even more of a treat. In the recipe, I’ve included some peanut butter fudge drizzle that you can use on this or another flavor of ice cream. Honestly, the chocolate chunks in the ice cream are enough of a treat for me, but I included the drizzle in case you want to use it. I also think this ice cream would go great with my single-serve brownie recipe or the Cake in a Mug recipe from the book Trim Healthy Mama. The ice cream would also taste a-maz-ing with the mocha cake recipe I just posted the other day. Something about chocolate cake and peppermint just…*sigh*
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 2½ cups unsweetened almond milk
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 T vegetable glycerin, optional but highly recommended
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6-7 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.), to taste
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- ¼ -1/2 tsp. pure peppermint extract (I use Watkin's brand; start with ¼ tsp. and increase upward to taste as it's very easy to get the peppermint flavor too strong)
- 4 drops red food coloring, optional
- 1 tsp. glucomannan
- 1 oz. chopped/shaved 85% dark chocolate, unsweetened baker's chocolate, or Skinny Chocolate
- 2 T refined coconut oil, such as Louanna brand
- 1 T natural peanut butter
- 1-1½ tsp. Truvia, ground in a coffee grinder (measure before grinding; you could also use ½-3/4 tsp. THM Super Sweet Blend, ground)
- 1 T cocoa powder
- Blend all the ice cream ingredients except for the chocolate together until completely smooth. Churn in an automatic countertop ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Add the chocolate toward the end of churning. Freeze to firm up even more, if desired.
- For the peanut butter fudge hardshell drizzle, microwave the coconut oil, peanut butter, and ground Truvia for about 30 seconds or until the coconut oil is melted and the peanut butter is soft. Add the coca powder and stir. Serve over ice cream (drizzle will harden once cold).
- 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.
This ice cream would be yummy served over my single-serve brownie recipe or the Cake in a Mug recipe from the book "Trim Healthy Mama". Sugar-free peppermints sweetened with a sweetener such as stevia, xylitol, or erythritol would be good chopped up in the ice cream.
If you don't have an ice cream maker, blend the ice cream ingredients, stir in the chocolate chunks, and freeze in ice cube trays. Let the cubes soften slightly, then blend them to a soft-serve consistency in a high-powered blender. Firm up in the freezer, if desired.
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- I use my Ninja blender to make all my ice cream recipes. Works great!
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder does a great job of sweetening. I used Truvia in the fudge drizzle because Truvia pairs better with chocolate than straight stevia does. The stevia can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store
- Glucomannan helps make this ice cream creamy, as does Vegetable Glycerin.
- I use Watkin’s brand peppermint extract.
- Some chocolate chips would be great in this ice cream…as would some crushed peppermint candies (this brand is sweetened with Splenda-OK for occasional usage).
Brianna, my countertop ice cream maker has a layer of ice cream when done that just won’t come off without major scraping. Any tips on dealing with that if you have seen it?
Also, I use the glycerin you suggested.
Hi Lori! Typically the glycerin fixes that for me, but making a recipe with more fat in it will help as well. A lot of my older recipes (like this one) are pretty light. If that happens to me I just let the insert sit out at room temp for awhile and once the ice cream has softened, I clean out the freezer bowl with a spatula (so I don’t scratch it). Maybe you’d like to try this recipe instead? It’s super creamy and somewhat higher in fat so you’ll probably have less of a problem with stickage: https://www.briana-thomas.com/candy-cane-ice-cream/
I love Friendly’s mint chocolate chip ice cream! So I made this today and it is amazing and I will never again “need” to partake of that yummy but unhealthy ice cream. I used Lilly’s chocolate chips and didn’t use any food coloring or chocolate topping (maybe next time). I am sooooo happy!!! BTW- congrats on your wedding!
I added half a tsp of cherry extract – delicious!
This recipe is so yummy! I haven’t had lot of sweet things this week so it taste extra good:) Thanks for all your recipes. I’m on your blog a lot!
Just got done making this and I’m now sitting here eating it! Its so yummy! Mine is really creamy because I had cream that needed to be used so I replaces some of the almond milk with cream! A few days ago my friend and I made the butter pecan recipe and that as well was good! Thanks, Briana, for the delicious recipes!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!
I love your recipes! You are so creative and generous with your sharing of them! Thank you Briana!
This is awesome! Making this for this evening. Thank you for your story and your inspiration.
Oh yum!
I wanted to mention that a couple raspberries or strawberries will also dye this, yet not change the taste.
I’m against food dye if at all possible, so thought I’d mention it for others who are as well.
Natasha
A modest fashion blog: http://www.natashaatkerson.blogspot.com