Low carb, sugar-free ice cream made with low carb dulce de leche and studded with salty roasted pecans.
I’ve been holding out on you. From the very name of this recipe I am sure you can gather that it was truly delicious and since I made it over a month ago, I really ought to have shared it with you by now. But I wanted to hold off for a bit, while I perfected a low carb ice cream that stayed soft and scoopable, even after many hours in the freezer. See, this was the recipe that lead me to the discovery that my homemade low carb sweetened condensed milk, a little extra xanthan gum and some alcohol could seriously improve the texture of sugar-free ice cream. I wanted to see if I could repeat the results with other flavours of ice cream, especially with vanilla. Because if I could do that, then I knew I was on to something. Then I figured I would share the recipe for ice cream made with my low carb dulce de leche.
The problem is that although I have had great success with my low carb vanilla ice cream, not all of my readers have had the same success. One poor person ended up with a gummy mixture that never set properly in her freezer, no matter how long she froze it. We narrowed the possible culprit to her use of a liqueur which contains sugar, since sugar lowers the freezing point of liquids and may have kept the ice cream from setting properly. Another person found that it froze quite hard and was not scoopable at first, but when she turned up the temp slightly in her freezer, it softened perfectly., which suggests that the recipe is very sensitive to temperatures as well. I have now made the vanilla ice cream recipe three times with slight variations and I’ve found that any reduction in xanthan gum or alcohol also means that it freezes rather harder than I like. So I know that the original recipe is solid, but that not everyone will get the exact same results if any of the variables change.
Even if perfect low carb ice cream is a little more difficult to achieve, at least with consistency, than I originally thought, this dulce de leche ice cream recipe is still worth sharing. Because even if it freezes a little harder and isn’t perfectly scoopable day after day, it’s so delicious, it’s worth waiting 10 minutes while it softens on your counter. For me, this recipe worked perfectly from the get-go and it was what twigged me to the fact that my condensed milk recipe might be the perfect base for low carb ice cream. And the salted pecans in dulce de leche ice cream? Pure genius, although not from my own head. Someone else’s genius altogether. I saw a recipe for a sugar-filled version and you didn’t have to ask me twice!
Dulce De Leche Ice Cream with Salted Pecans
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pecans, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups Low Carb Dulce De Leche
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tbsp vodka, optional, but helps consistency
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp stevia extract
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F and combine chopped pecans, butter and salt in a baking dish, tossing to mix thoroughly.
- Bake 10 to 15 minutes, tossing ever 5 minutes, until golden brown.
- Let cool in pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together dulce de leche, heavy cream, vodka, vanilla and stevia extract. Sprinkle with xanthan gum and whisk quickly to combine.
- Chill 2 to 3 hours.
- Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.
- Transfer to an airtight container, stir in salted pecans and press plastic wrap flush to the surface.
- Freeze until firm, about 2 more hours
- Any leftovers will freeze very solid. Be sure to soften in the refrigerator for half an hour before using.
Notes
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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this is calling my name Carolyn!!!
This sounds great, low-carb and sweet and salty combo, it can’t be better
Do you think you could use flavored vodka without messing with the consistency?
If it’s just flavoured and not sweetened, yes. Should work just fine.
That’s what I was thinking, thanks! I think that new smirnoff caramel one would be yummy in this recipe!!!
do you think i could make the condensed milk with coconut cream and coconut or almond milk? trying to eat minimum dairy around here. ice cream looks wonderful…thanks
I honestly don’t know, but it’s worth a try. I wouldn’t do all coconut cream though, because that’s pretty thick on it’s own and might get gooey. How about half coconut cream, half almond milk?
thank you, i will let you know how it turns out, jillian
thank you, i will let you know how it turns out, jillian
This ice cream looks so incredibly creamy and delicious!
OH MY WORD! It is only 10:15am and I am craving ice cream!
this ice cream looks like it has such a dreamy creamy texture! And anything dulce de leche sounds good to me!
Dulce de Leche is one of my favorite flavors!
This is incredible! Can’t wait to try it!
Ooh yes this is my kind of ice cream! Just look at all the awesomness it in. Yum!
Big smooches to YOU! Looks so good. 🙂
This is absolutely gorgeous!!
I’m so happy this is low-carb ice cream. It looks so decadent that if it were regular ice cream, I would feel so guilty for eating it. Or at least my wife would.
I am dying to try this! I love that it’s low carb. You’re inspiring.
I’ve had a few challenges making ice cream, but overall it’s been pretty good. I am going to have to give this dulce de leche one a try! Sounds decadent!
This is the excuse I needed to clean out my freezer to make room for my ice cream maker!