We just started making kefir from kefir grains and I have been testing and looking for good recipes made with kefir. Kefir is a pretty potent probiotic so we have had to start slowly – I am working my way up from 1 spoonful per day to drinking half a cup. This recipe includes just enough so if you have a bowlful it provides you the probiotic benefits but not overkill.
Chocolate Probiotic Ice Cream
Ingredients
This recipe yields 1.5 quarts of ice cream
- 1 can whole coconut milk (where to buy)
- 1 cup raw milk kefir (plain if you are buying from the grocery store)
- 1 cup raw whole milk (where to find)
- 4 pastured egg yolks
- 1/2 cup cacao powder (where to buy)
- 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup (maple sugar)
- 1 Tbsp gelatin (where to buy)
- pinch salt (where to buy)
Directions
Heat the milk, maple sugar, cacao powder and salt in a sauce pan on low heat.
In the meantime, beat the egg yolks with a whisk.
When the milk is warm to the touch, add the gelatin.
Remove the milk from the heat and add a small ladle-full of the milk mixture to the egg yolks while continually beating them (this tempers them so they won’t scramble). Add a couple more ladle-fuls of the milk to the egg yolks and then add the entire egg mixture back to the milk over a low flame – continuously beating.
Continue to stir the custard base until it thickens – about 5 minutes more. Turn off heat and add the vanilla.
Pour the milk mixture into a large glass jar along with the coconut milk and the kefir. Stir to incorporate.
Chill covered in the fridge a few hours or overnight.
After chilling pour mixture into ice cream maker per your manufacturer’s instructions.
Here is my 3 year old loving this recipe!
This post is featured in Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Make Your Own Monday.
Just wanted to comment on the probiotic factor. If you add the kefir to the milk mixture before it cools to below 110 degrees, you will damage the enzymes and probiotics that you are striving to serve in this great recipe. I chilled it before adding the kefir. Just sayin’… Great recipe tho, thanks !!
You’ve done it again with another GREAT recipe! Thanks! Can’t wait to try this!
This looks delicious. I’ve played with putting fermented foods in ice cream too but I was under the impression that the probiotics don’t survive the freezing process. In most cases they don’t survive freezing because ice crystals are sharp and puncture their cells. thoughts?
I also thought that probiotics would die in the freezer…..