Low Fat/ Low Sugar Ice Cream Alternatives

I'm pretty sure that most people haven't taken a magnifying glass to the issue of ice-cream in order to find a diet loop hole.  In fact those who are dieting or want to eat healthy foods are more inclined to avoid ice cream all together.  Fortunately, avoiding ice cream may not be entirely necessary since there are two types of frozen treats in the ice cream family that are both low in fat and low in sugar.  These ice cream alternatives are gelato and frozen yogurt.  Here are some facts about ice cream, gelato, and frozen yogurt that may help you understand why gelato and frozen yogurt are so great.

Ice Cream: First of all, it is helpful to know what type of ingredients are usually in ice-cream.  If you make ice cream at home, you may already be aware that most ice cream recipes consist mostly of heavy cream.  A typical recipe may have two cups of heavy cream and one cup of whole milk.  Some recipes may have 3 cups of heavy cream to 1 cup of whole milk or half and half.  On the lighter side, you may find ice cream made mostly from half and half.  For example, a light ice cream recipe could be made using 3 cups of half and half.  Although lighter ice creams exist, they tend to have an icy texture instead of the creamy texture found in ice creams made with heavy cream. 

Gelato: Gelato is an Italian style of ice cream which is generally made with two cups of whole milk and one cup of heavy cream.  This combination gives gelato a much lower percentage of fat compared to ice cream.  Gelato is also made with less sugar, which is not apparent when you taste it.  Gelato is genrally made with egg yokes which give it a creamy and smooth texture like ice cream, but without the added fat.  For those who don't care for added cholesterol, gelato can also be made using corn starch in the place of eggs.  A great gelato recipe and source for information on gelato making can be found on a blog called Memorie di Angelina.  In addition to gelato being much lower in fat and sugar, making gelato is also an economical alternative to making ice cream.  Since heavy cream is generally pretty expensive compared to milk, making gelato means using much less heavy cream.  Instead of getting two batches of ice cream from a quart of heavy cream, you can make four batches of gelato.  If you don't want to make that much gelato, there are plenty of uses for cream like making sauces or making butter and butter milk.

Frozen Yogurt: Frozen yogurt is probably the best ice cream alternative one can make if dieting.  If you make your own yogurt, you'll be aware that yogurt is made with milk.  Compared to ice cream and gelato, this treat is the lowest in fat of them all.  Additionally, yogurt can be made with low fat milk.  However, be aware that the frozen yogurt will be icy and less creamy if made with low fat milk.  Another reason frozen yogurt is the best ice cream alternative is since the sugar content can be reduced to zero.  Homemade or store bought yogurt can be thrown in the blender with fruit and honey or any type of fruit and banana and this will be sufficient to sweeten the yogurt.  Bananas are one of those fruits that are sweet enough that it can act as a sweetener.  You can make frozen yogurt by throwing the fruit, sweetener, and yogurt into a blender, chilling and then putting it in your ice cream maker.  You can also make flavored yogurt and then throw it all in your ice cream maker without blending.  Personally, I am a fan of making homemade fruit syrups and mixing it with yogurt.  This method has more sugar than putting fresh fruit in a blender, but it is quicker to make.  I only need open a chilled jar of homemade fruit syrup, stir it into homemade yogurt and throw it in the ice cream maker.

Frozen Treats: For a little variation, I like to pour frozen yogurt or gelato into popsicle molds and then freeze.  Home made ice cream, gelato and frozen yogurt will have a smooth soft serve texture when first made, but will harden in the freezer.  So this makes a perfect ice cream bar type of treat for you or the kids.

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