Background: For Christmas, I sent my sister and her family a Cuisinart soft serve ice cream machine. I told her what I was sending since she would need to put the freezer bowl in the freezer before wrapping if they wanted to be able to make ice cream for the kids on Christmas day.
She got it yesterday, took out the freezer bowl and recipe book and wrapped it back up to put under the tree. (I actually think the BIL is more excited to use the thing than the kids will be.)
They have been reading the recipes and are going to gather ingedients and supplies over the weekend.
Which leads to the question in the heading.
I have searched, but can’t seem to find a definitive answer.
So I put it to The Dopers.
Can you replace all, or part, of the sugar in a soft ice cream recipe with either splenda or truvia? Have you made ice cream this way? And, if so, how did it turn out?
Yes, and it tastes just fine (if you are ok with the taste of Splenda). Although when I did it, I followed recipes that specifically called for Splenda instead of just substituting it 1:1.
Google “low carb ice cream recipe” for tons of recipes.
Yes and no. As long as you eat it right away, you can make ice cream using artificial sweeteners just fine. However, it won’t keep in the freezer – it will freeze into a block as hard as an ice cube. To get sugar-free ice cream that can is scoopable after a day in the freezer, you have to use sugar alcohols, which you can buy in granulated form under the brand name “Diabetisweet.”
And if you do use sugar alcohols, I’d eat very little ice cream at a sitting at first, to get a handle on exactly how your intestinal flora are going to react to them.
But my family made a cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, and we used Splenda instead of sugar. It tasted fine, but didn’t “thicken up” as nicely as we had hoped… Is this another case of Splenda not acting quite like sugar?
Thanks for the replies. Now I have another question…would going with 1/2 splenda and 1/2 sugar fix the freezing problem? Or would that provide enough sugar alcohols?
ETA: do the flavored sugar-free syrups have something added to thicken them up that would also help with the ice cream freezing solid?
Yes you can, and I have many times used Splenda but I’ve never used a machine. I do the old fashioned-too cheap to buy a machine-spend hours freezing and scraping and blending style.
But I will say it won’t be that great if you make chocolate unless you add some erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol but the one least likely to mess with your stomach. I used it all the time back in my sugar-free days with no problems, while other sugar alcohols make me horribly sick.
My recipe was simple, just cream heavy whipping cream with enough splenda/erythritol to make it sweet enough, and a banana to thicken it. Maybe some chocolate or coffee if you like. Freeze it soft and then process it. Sometimes a few times, but I imagine it wouldn’t go that way with a machine. Sometimes I’d make it thinner for a blender shake. The texture of course won’t be the same without the banana, but if you’re looking for soft-serve this is what you’ll get.
My family was always satisfied with it, even the ones who didn’t do the sugar-free thing.
No they are just plain thin syrups. The Da Vinci style at least, that’s the only kind I have used. There are some other things I can think of that might thicken it nicely. Pureed pumpkin with spices for a pumpkin ice cream; Maybe add egg yolk if you don’t mind raw egg for some frozen custard.
Ok, Sugar, Splenda, and sugar alcohols are three different things.
In normal ice cream, the ice cream is kept soft and scoopable by three things.
Agitation , which creates air bubbles - you get that in home-machine ice cream, but not as much as in commercial ice cream
Sugar - prevents ice crystals from forming
Emulsifiers – keeps the water part and the fat part intermixed. You get some of this in home-made ice cream when it includes raw eggs. Please use pasteurized eggs if the ice cream will be eaten by small children or the elderly.
Home-made ice cream made with all sugar already becomes MUCH harder than commercial ice cream in the freezer. If you take out the sugar, you’re taking out the strongest tool the home-ice cream maker has to prevent the ice cream from freezing solid. You can experiment with proportions of this and that but be prepared for failure. Your best bet is to eat any ice cream you make the same day.
I’m sorry if I confused you earlier – Sugar does not contain sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols are a sugar substitute (you might recognize the names malitol, sorbitol, xylitol – all sugar alcohols) that share some unique chemical properties with sugar.
Also I wouldn’t use Diabetisweet unless you don’t find it gross. I do, and it has isomalt so expect digestive problems.
Erythritol I’ve never seen in stores. I got it at Netrition online low carb store. You can stick your finger in the bag and it’s almost like real powdered sugar, only a slightly cooling after so it’s perfect for ice cream. It’s so worth the trouble of hunting down.
No problem, I was confused to start with. Thank you very much for the clear explanation. I thought sugar alcohols were a component of sugar that had been “broken out”, so to speak.
I am new to the sugar-free thing. My Mom was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so my sister is trying to adapt recipes for Grandma (I live 2000 miles away from family), and a good friend who is insulin dependent just moved into my guest cabin.
The learning curve is steeper than I thought, but I am (slowly) catching on.
Sometimes the best thing is to give up on the traditional stuff and go to other things. Sugar is a heavy texturizer and catalyst in recipes and many things simply will NOT come out right without it.
Go for other things, pumpkin pie is amazingly yummy made with splenda, many other pies are just yummy with splenda in place of sugar though you can make meringues, it can be mildly tricky. Fruit cobblers are good as you can still eat a certain amount of fruit in a day =) I will give up a bread or heavy starch in a dinner to allow for a portion of fruit cobbler for dessert when fresh blackberries are in season!
Agreed, but the ice cream maker is for the sister’s family (kids 6 & 7 yo). Sister was worried about Grandma being there Christmas day and not being able to have the ice cream.
At my house, we have substituted alot since our friend came to live. His favorite, favorite treat is zuchini bread. Easily (and deliciously) made sugar free. I try to make some every week or two as it keeps him from asking for brownies or chocolate cake
loshan, not for ice cream, but for beverages, check out Evil bay for liquid splenda for your Grandma–one drop is a packet, and a 1oz bottle will last for a while.
