Chocolate Milk Ice Cream - No eggs and cream yet creamy!

If you would recall... I have posted only two ice cream recipes before at here and here and the last one was dated July 2011.

You may be wondering... have I given up making and eating ice cream since July 2011? Absolutely not! So, what happened???

I'm always in the pursuit of finding an ideal ice cream recipe...
An ice cream that is guilt-free with no cream and eggs.
An ice cream that is not overly-overloading with sugar and fat for us to eat everyday.
Not forgetting, an ice cream that has to be creamy and delicious enough for us to indulge.

How is this possible??? Kind of impossible, I suppose. And, this is the reason why I have not been posting any ice cream recipe.

Being a logical person, I've decided to list down my objectives in order to obtain my ideal kind of ice cream and here are my YES and NO:

• YES: I want a nice and creamy texture for my ice cream.
• NO: Definitely a big NO for icy gritty after-taste.
• YES: I love to have a flavourful ice cream.
• NO: Not the thin, watery and tasteless kind of texture.
• YES: Nice if the ice cream is LOW in fat and sugar...
• NO: I should say NO to 35% fat cream and eggs
• YES: LESS sugar if possible

After countless numbers of trial and error, I finally achieved this basic chocolate ice cream recipe with a good balance of sweetness and texture with the minimal amount of fat added and this is the ice cream that we have been eating for the past two years. I'm proud to say that both my in-house food critics (my husband and son) have given me their thumbs up when they first tasted this ice cream and afterwards, I have no complains at all whenever I served them these ice cream.

This, I would say is definitely a great excuse for us to eat ice cream everyday!

My low fat chocolate Oreo ice cream

The ingredients that I have used

Just mix and cool... Easy!

This is the fun part! Wearing an angry bird tee is giving my son a lot of bashing power!

Churning the ice cream

More Oreo, please!

Serving the ice cream...

Nice and creamy with no icy grits

Before proceeding to my no-cream ice cream recipe, I have just realise something when my son and I were enjoying these packets of Oreo... Hey! Oreo is actually Milk's favourite cookies. So, you can imagine that the our chocolate milk ice cream can be so yummy with Oreo!

They are our favourite cookies too!

Here's my ideal basic chocolate ice cream recipe.

Make about 1L of ice cream

50g cocoa powder (preferably Dutch processed)

2 can evaporated milk, 375 ml each (98% fat free)
120g condensed milk (about 1/3 of 400g can, can be 99% fat free)
16g gelatin (about 4 sheets) *see note
Extras: 150g Oreo cookies, roughly chopped
(optional but my son loves this addition due to Oreo-bashing - LOL!)

Place cocoa powder, evaporated milk and condensed milk in a pan over medium low heat. Whisk constantly until well mixed.

Soak gelatin sheets in water just before use. Squeeze gelatin sheets to remove excess water and whisk in the softened gelatin into the ice cream mixture.

Cook, stirring constantly, for 3-4 mins. Pour into a container and chill in the fridge for at least 3-4 hrs or overnight. This well-chilled ice cream mixture will become jelly-like and this is the consistency that I'm after.

Pour the chilled ice cream mixture into the ice cream maker and allow the maker to stir until the ice cream texture forms. Stir in 3/4 amount of the Oreo cookies only when the 90% of the ice cream texture is almost achieved. 

If ice cream maker is not available, as suggested by Taste.com.au, pour ice cream mixture into a shallow container and freeze for 2 hours until frozen at the edges. Beat with electric beaters, then return to freezer. Repeat 2-3 times, then freeze until firm.

When the ice cream texture is formed, transfer the ice cream mixture into a freezable container and top the ice cream mixture with the rest of the Oreo cookies. Freeze the ice cream overnight or until firm. Serve.

*Note: 

The strength of gelatin can vary very much from brand to brand. This one that I'm using is imported from Germany and they are not the Titanium-strength kind. The correct amount of gelatin to use can be subjective due to the brand and quality used. To know the most ideal amount required, I have tried using one, two, three and ultimately four sheets of gelatin and eventually found out that four sheets of gelatin leaves is the best amount for me to use.

If you are a vegetarian or can't consume gelatin, xanthan gum, Guar gum or locust bean gum are great alternative gelling options. As excessive intake of Guar gum can possibly result in some side effects, xanthan gum seems to be the better option being also more easily available than locust bean gum.

Personally, I think that xanthan gum is easier to use as powder form for baking but difficult to dissolve well in liquid desserts. Most of the time, I still find undissolved lumps within my ice cream mixture even I have pre-dissolved it before adding into my ice cream. For this reason, I would prefer to gelatin for a smoother texture. The recommended amount of xanthan gum to use is 1/4 tsp for every liter of ice cream mixture.

Enjoy the treat
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