Creamless Ice Cream?

I like ice-cream. To me, beside from being sweet, it's a healthy snack. Don't kill me yet. The main ingredient is milk. Milk is a good source of calcium. The only downside of ice cream is the sugar. Customized ice cream can be expensive. One can adjust the sugar level but it is still expensive. Why not make your own ice cream? No ice cream maker? No problem. Look for some recipes in the internet. Most don't use ice cream maker.

I love ice cream so much that I could argue about how healthy it really is. Once, my friend Cherri told me her parents never give her ice cream as a child. Unhealthy they said. Well, I grew up eating freshly made ice cream. Frosty Boy to name one. Another fresh ice cream vendor that I know of is our church. Ice cream is good for bone. I would give my children limitless ice cream. They're gonna grow up spoilt. Well, if this method that I'm going to share succeed, I'm gonna make low sugar ice cream. Let's see tomorrow.

I have a lot of leftover milk. Actually, it's my mother's Omega 3 fortified milk powder. So, an idea came to me. Making ice cream.

First, I prepare the milk. Mixing a heap into some water. Cool water. This makes blending the powdered milk easier. Something that I learnt from a nurse while preparing milk for diabetic patients. Leave aside some milk to dilute with cornstarch.

Heat the rest of the milk until boiling, then simmer. I've burnt a lot of milk before, so be careful when heating milk. It's recommended to use bain marie/double boiler or simmering plate. I use a heave bottom pan. It heats slower than aluminium pan but constantly. One may use copper simmering plate to separate open flame from the pan. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer.

While heating, I also add some condensed milk, vanilla essence and sugar. I even add some butter hoping that it would make the ice cream creamier. In this island, cream is expensive. And because I am a frugal Asian, I don't use any cream. The cornstarch help stabilize the milk fats. Adding butter to milk is just an idea. I saw it once on frugal living website. I'll add the link later below.

Once the milk reduced to two third, or until it thicken, I add the cornstarch mixture into the simmering milk. Make sure to mix the cornstarch completely to prevent lumps from forming.

Heat until it thickens. Custard thick. Maybe a bit runny.

Then put the milk mixture into a bowl and immerse the bowl into an ice bath, stirring. This helps reducing more water from the mixture. Mix until the mixture is lower than room temperature. Keep mixing. But in the hot tropical sun, just pop it inside the freezer.

After 2 hours, scrape the ice and blend the ice cold mixture. It should be flurry like consistency. Mix again and leave for 8 hours or overnight. I can't say anything beyond this point. I'll update tomorrow.

Next time, I'll use egg yolks. Or maybe coconut cream to make it creamier. Coconut and pineapple perhaps. Pina colada. See if the ice cream is a success tomorrow.

And I apologise for not mentioning the measurement. That's how Asian cooks. Not that I am keeping them a secret. If in doubt, follow your heart. Cooking is from the heart. Secret ingredient is always love.


Frugal living
http://frugalliving.about.com/

There's a lot of ice cream making videos in YouTube. I like those demonstrated by CHOW and masak.tv. The latter is in Indonesian, but the method is practical to Asian kitchen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y265GcqB_4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCl8IOf_1Q

Crossing fingers for the outcome

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My ice cream is ready! It's a hybrid of gelato and sorbet. Yum!