Kefir Ice Cream
We love kefir ice cream in this house! I’m always looking for good, nutritional ways to use my kefir. I came across the recipe for kefir ice cream on Tammy’s Recipes website (one of my favorites!) It’s so good that when we run out, I make more. And the combinations are endless! I hope to keep adding kefir recipes for you guys. Check out the smoothie recipe here in case you missed it.  I love giving Annie something that is a treat, and yet good for her. The probiotics are great and it’s a good way to get in your calcium for the day. Okay, so who am I fooling? I don’t make this for Annie. I make it for me. There – I confessed.
You’ll be amazed at the short list of ingredients: kefir, heavy cream, sweetener, vanilla. Those are your base ingredients. Yes, that’s it. I know; it’s some kind of probiotic miracle.

 
Okay, first you need to dissolve your sweetener in the kefir. Mix them both together and keep mixing until the sugar is completely dissolved. It will take a couple minutes. I’ve used white sugar and sugar in the raw. Both turned out really great, but we’re trying to stop using white sugar (sugar in the raw isn’t really what it says it is). So, for this batch I tried Sucanat instead. I’ll tell you at the end how that worked.

 
When the sugar is dissolved, add the cream and vanilla. Stir again. Annie calls ice cream just plain “cream.” Forget the ice part mom. Just give me the good stuff.
For this batch I wanted to make it Chocolate Coffee Flavored. I used cocoa powder and instant coffee granules. I stirred them into the kefir cream mixture until the coffee was dissolved. Yummy! Plain vanilla is excellent, and I’ve also added 1 cup of pureed strawberries (super good!). You can use just about anything to flavor your ice cream: a scraped vanilla bean, chopped cookies, chopped nuts, different extracts, etc. If it’s in the store, you can make it yourself. Amen.

 
Pour the mixture down into your ice cream canister. Make sure to use a spatula and get all the yummy goodness down into there. Every last bit.

 
This is where it gets tricky. I can’t tell you anything else. Each ice cream maker is different. Mine is a cheapo Rival. I would love to have a really great one…..but I would also love to pay the house off. You get the idea. For mine, I layer ice cubes and rock salt. Rock salt is pretty cheap and it’s found in the baking aisle with the regular salt. Rock salt looks like dirty salt. It makes me want to clean. My mom has a hand crank type and I might try it one day when I’m not pooped.

 
Turn that puppy on and let it work! Mine only takes 25 minutes to finish. Yours might take longer or less. Read the instructions…..or not. I’m not really an instructions reader. Sometimes that works against me. The best part of this recipe is that you are done, start to finish, in only 30 minutes! So, when that ice cream craving hits, you’re only 30 minutes away. Yes, it’s a probiotic miracle again.
It will look like soft serve ice cream when it’s done. That’s when I like to eat it…..and I did. Confession is good for the soul. I put mine into a Rubbermaid container to freeze it. When you’re ready to eat it out of the freezer, you’ll need to let it soften up a bit. It does freeze a tad bit hard if you don’t use white sugar. Or you can get in a rush like Barry and try to get it out while it’s hard, then fling chocolate ice cream all over the kitchen so that Stacy finds it all day long the next day. *Ahem*

 
Annie loves “cream.” So, the flavor of this was really great. I love the chocolate and coffee mixed together. However, neither Barry nor I were a big fan of the Sucanat flavor, since it’s pretty strong. That being said, we’re not having a hard time eating it…..at all. Annie loves it.

ETA: I made it again yesterday using almost 1 teaspoon of liquid stevia and it tastes great!

 

Kefir Ice Cream from Tammy’s Recipes 

2 cups kefir

2/3 cup sweetener

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

(I added 1 tablespoon of instant coffee and 1/3 cup cocoa powder for this batch)

Mix kefir and sweetener until sweetener is dissolved. Add cream and vanilla. Add any other optional mix-ins. Pour mixture into ice cream maker bowl and follow maker directions. Eat as soft serve or put in the freezer for later.

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About Stacy

Stacy is the author of Crock On: A Semi-Whole Foods Slow Cooker Cookbook and a stay-at-home mom to her two children, Annie (3) and Andy (newborn). After an “awakening” in March 2011, her family switched to a more natural, whole foods diet. She likes to blog about how to live on less than you make and how to eat good food while doing it. Her passion is teaching others how to save money and she tag teams with her husband in this endeavor. At Stacy Makes Cents you’ll find information on how to save money in the kitchen, how to have fun with your kids, and how to be thrifty in all areas of life. Her passion is teaching others how to live debt free. Make sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with her daily antics.

  • http://impossibleway.livejournal.com Brandy

    I found Sucanat has a hard time dissolving, too. I made Tammy’s caramel sauce with it and it was GRAINY. But, we choked it down, you know. ;-)

    • Stacy

      It wasn’t grainy, but it did take longer dissolving. :-) Barry says not to use it in that again.

  • Becca C

    So you only used the stevia as a sweetener the 2nd time you made this? That’s not a lot at all! I think I’ll look for some at the store today. :)

    • Stacy

      Stevia is VERY concentrated……that teaspoon took about half my bottle. :-) I used stevia the fourth time I made it. It always turns out better with sugar, but we’re trying to get away from white sugar. I will try it next time with organic sugar and see how it goes.

  • Becca C

    Yes, I bought a bottle of Stevia liquid at Earth Fare today, and nearly keeled over at the price for a small bottle, but I figure a little goes a long way after I sampled just a drop. Wee doggies!

  • http://www.baking4six.com Dianne@Baking4Six

    Hey Stacy – when is that homemade vanilla of yours going to be ready? Now, you are killing me,lol; with that artificial vanilla (I’m sure it has something to do with the resulting flavor. Pure vanilla is very strong and can take over other flavors.) So, I wouldn’t give up on using the sucanat… I wonder what would happen if you tried making a custard base with your farm fresh eggs?
    Another option (or both options)if you have coffee beans (I noticed the instant coffee was decaf.)is to can heat the sucanat & part of the cream & the coffee beans together and steep so as to achieve a deeper richer flavor).
    I would totally try this, but I don’t have kefir (just can’t justify mail ordering something I’m not sure I’ll use or keep alive).
    Annie looks happy anyway :)

    • Stacy

      :-) Nah, I like this recipe because it’s so easy. Every other way it’s great. Barry just doesn’t care very much for the sucanat flavor with the chocolate.
      Oh, and my vanilla isn’t ready until September. :-)

  • http://www.baking4six.com Dianne@Baking4Six

    It’s almost September!! …and you should give the custard base ice cream a try sometime. I have made 3 different batches recently and it is so creamy. However, if you are eating all of the ice cream immediately from the ice cream maker, then I doubt it’s a huge difference, but eating the custard base ice cream after a “hard freeze” in a standard freezer – SO good!! I have 2 ice cream recipes coming up soon ~ no ice cream maker needed (they do contain the other “s” word, but once I get some sucanat I’m going to try them that way, meanwhile, I think I’m going to try using honey)

    • Stacy

      I’ve made it that way too……and the kefir ice cream does freeze pretty hard. :-)

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