Honey and yoghurt - two of my favourite ice cream flavours! And this one is reasonably healthy to boot, with no added sugar and low in calories. That's my summer desserts sorted!
Ice cream with no sugar added
Wonderful news: ice cream with no added sugar can be delicious. Healthy ice cream, there’s a surprise! Also, contrary to expectations it doesn’t have any artificial (or so called natural) sweeteners which are in fact vile and worse for you than ordinary sugar.
This ice cream is sweetened with mushed raisins and honey, both in very modest amounts.
The only healthfulness caveat is in the evaporated milk which, albeit unsweetened, does contain saturated fat and is clearly heftier in calories than ordinary full fat milk.
Yoghurt - and a little bit of something creamier
I have always been an aficionado of frozen yoghurt aka fro-yo aka yoghurt flavour ice cream, so I’ve been experimenting and testing for the best recipe and the perfect texture for a long while.
The addition of some double cream and corn syrup works, but that’s not exactly a healthy mix. Cream cheese makes it taste too much like cheesecake you forgot to defrost and plain milk will make the mixture freeze to a solid rock.
This is definitely the best result. And you don’t need to churn it in the ice cream maker, just scrape the mix into a tub and enjoy it a few hours later. True, it will be smoother and creamier if churned in a machine, but taken out of the freezer – which you should do with any ice cream – well before serving will make it totally scoopable.
How to make the yoghurt ice mix
The thicker the yoghurt, the creamier the ice cream is going to be so it pays to strain it overnight.
The objective is not quite labneh, the Middle Eastern almost-cheese, but really thick yoghurt. Scoop it into a cheesecloth-lined sieve or colander set over a bowl and let it chill for the night. The liquid collected in the bowl, whey, is by the way fantastic for making bread.
Evaporated milk, let me remind you, is unsweetened; the sweet version is called condensed. Make sure you get that distinction right - for years I struggled to remember which is which.
Raisins are partly responsible for sweetening the mix so they need to be minced. You can blend them with the evaporated milk in a blender or a food processor, but if you don’t think it’s worth the bother and washing up, just chop them up as finely as you can with a knife.
And then it’s just the matter of whisking everything together, including the strained yoghurt and honey, and a pinch of salt which helps things freeze quickly.
Tub it up, sit it in the freezer for at least a couple of hours and then soften it a little before serving: ten minutes in the kitchen or twenty in the fridge will make it scoopable.
Chopped walnuts sprinkled over make a beautiful topping.
More easy ice cream recipes
Mascarpone sorbet is a delightful, refreshing, sorbet-sherbet, with a lemon tang and milky smoothness – and made without an ice cream maker.
Homemade salted caramel ice cream without ice cream maker, ready in five minutes. No eggs, no custard ice cream base, just three ingredients.
Nigella's no churn, two ingredient ice cream with a lively raspberry puree ripple. It's easy. It's delicious. It's made in ten minutes. Need I say more?
More yoghurt recipes
Blueberry parfait recipe for a dessert or breakfast dish, delicious at any time of day. The blueberry parfait is made with roasted blueberries and strained yoghurt.
Italian yoghurt cake or torta allo yogurt, also known as torta 7 vasetti. Simple but genius: use the yoghurt pot to measure all the other ingredients.
Overnight oats with homemade yoghurt and fresh fruit – the healthiest breakfast. The simplest breakfast to prepare ahead, more delicious with homemade yoghurt, silky smooth and ready in 24 hours.