I was lucky enough to have someone gift me some milk kefir grains. They have been fermenting away and I’ve gotten quite the supply of kefir for my smoothies, salad dressings as well as enough to try making some sugar free strawberry kefir ice cream with it.
I love the Tummy Tucking Ice Cream from page 369 in the Trim Healthy Mama book. So I am adapting that method to making this sugar free strawberry kefir ice cream. I do use vegetable glycerine as well as a little vodka (These are optional ingredients and do not have to be used) to help keep my ice creams scoop-able since we only have 3 of us here.
I did break out another treat pan so that I could make these into ice cream sandwiches, you could use a larger whoopie pan to make these as well. You should let the ice cream sandwiches sit at room temperature for a little while so they will be easier to eat. I used the cake in a mug recipe on page 379 for the cake part of the sandwiches.
Milk kefir is one of those interesting fermented foods.
Kefir is fermented milk with loads of great probiotics, it makes great smoothies as well as salad dressings. I will be making some of those very soon. The whey can be used to lacto ferment other fruits and vegetables and it makes great cheese.
Check out the recipes in the Trim Healthy Mama book. There are some great recipes for kefir based smoothies and other treats in Cultured Recipes (Chapter 26).
I have been fermenting 2% store bought milk, I know that raw milk would be so much better but honestly Shane won’t use it and neither will Rick so I’m going with what works for our family. I am going to say this is an S kefir due to the 2% milk fat in the milk, the grains eat the lactose not the fat. So this sugar free strawberry kefir ice cream will be creamier than if made with almond milk or low fat kefir although those options are there as well.
I haven’t been able to drink my kefir straight without it being incorporated into something like a smoothie or this sugar free strawberry kefir ice cream but I do keep trying.
Making my own kefir has been a wonderful boost to our budget. I can use it in place of yogurt in many recipes with the knowledge that we are still getting the probiotics that we need, which helps save some money while adding variety to the things I make.
Sugar Free Strawberry Kefir Ice Cream
- Serves: 1
- Serving size: 1
- Calories: 173
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated fat: 3g
- Unsaturated fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 19g
- Sugar: 17g
- Sodium: 117mg
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 9g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
- 1 cup milk kefir
- 1 TBS Sweet blend
- 1 tsp strawberry extract
- ½ cup sliced strawberries
- ½ tsp vegetable glycerin
- ¼ tsp gluccommanan powder
- 1 tsp vodka (Optional)
- Place kefir and strawberries in blender. Pulse them together.
- Add Sweet Blend and strawberry extract, pulse again.
- Sprinkle Gluccomannan powder and process for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- DO NOT add vegetable glycerine yet.
- Pour mixture into ice cube trays, filling only about ½ way per cavity. Freeze.
- Remove cubes from trays. Add to blender
- Add vegetable glycerin and process for 1-2 minutes, until cubes are broken up.
- Add 3-4 TBS of milk kefir and continue processing until it reaches ice cream consistency. If refreezing, add vodka during last blending.
Katie says
This looks delicious!! Thankyou! I also am unable to drink milk kefir straight as yet! My two test old loves it though! Excited to try this recipe 🙂
Rach D says
Guessing that since I enjoy kefir so much, I’d really enjoy this dessert! Going to pin on my natural health board 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Rachael @ Diamonds in the Rough
sjanette says
In your instructions you write: Sprinkle Gluccomannan powder and process for 30 seconds to 1 minute. But the gluco isn’t in your list of ingredients?
judy says
I’m sorry. I’ll go fix that thanks for catching it 🙂 … The measurement for Gluccomannan Powder is 1/4 tsp.
Linda says
The only thing I might add that I’ve learned is that is you are making non-dairy keifer you need a grain keifer starter. I found a lady on the internet that sells both but I haven’t ordered from her.