Oh. My. God. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

(I could stop this post right there, because seriously, that’s all that needs to be said about this ice cream recipe. It is AMAZING. Quite possibly the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Sooo rich. Soooooo delicious.)

I’ve had an ice cream maker for about a year, and in that time I’ve learned a LOT about making ice cream:

• You can make ice cream with or without eggs. With eggs is called “Custard”  style; without eggs is called “Philadelphia” style.
• Eggs act as an emulsifier…which basically means that the eggs are the glue that holds everything together.
• Eggs keep ice crystals from forming and keep the ice cream from turning rock hard when it’s in the freezer (gelatin also helps to prevent ice crystals).
• Ice cream that is made without eggs does not store well in the freezer and should be eaten right away.
• If you use eggs, you need to cook the mixture on the stove so you’re not eating raw eggs.

I make my ice cream with eggs. Since I use Truvia instead of sugar, I feel like I should try to keep everything else as close to “real” ice cream as possible.

So why did I call this recipe “Ice Cream/Pudding”? Because when you add gelatin to an ice cream mixture you get pudding. And in the case of THIS recipe, quite possibly the best chocolate pudding I’ve ever had. Even better than Cozy Shack chocolate pudding, which up until a few days ago I would have said was the best chocolate pudding in the world. (It’s definitely the best store-bought chocolate pudding out there, in my opinion. But I digress.)

I tasted the pudding mixture right before I was about to pour it into my ice cream maker, and it was so freaking good that I considered skipping the ice cream maker altogether. But I have major problems when it comes to portion control, and I knew that if I didn’t turn it into ice cream and freeze it then I would end up eating all of the pudding within a day or two. So into the ice cream maker it went.

Sugar-free Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream/Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 can full fat coconut milk (13.5 oz)
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 tablespoons Truvia
• 4 egg yolks, whisked (you can the the egg whites to make meringues!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 packet Knox gelatin (helps to keep the ice cream from turning rock solid once you freeze it)
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder (Ditto. But it’s not as vital as long as you’re using gelatin.)
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Sidenote: an instant thermometer makes making ice cream so much easier. You can’t let the temperature of the mixture get over 175 F when you’re heating it up, because then the eggs will start to cook. A thermometer eliminates any guesswork.

Directions:

1. Add coconut milk to a sauce pan and heat over low flame. (I tried the double boiler method once or twice, but it seemed really unnecessary. Maybe I’m missing something, I don’t know.)

2. Mix in the cocoa powder, then the gelatin, and then the eggs, and stir constantly until thermometer reaches 175 degrees (or until it coats the back of a spoon).

3. Remove the saucepan from the stove and immediately put it in cold water to cool it down.

4. Once it has cooled down a bit, add the Truvia, vanilla and arrowroot.

5. Put the mixture in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.

That’s all there is to it. When you take your mixture out of the fridge you’ll have a delicious pudding that you can either eat as is or turn into ice cream. If you want to make ice cream, it’s 15 minutes in the ice cream maker and you’re done. (If you want to add anything, like almonds, add it at about 10 minutes in.)