u/Dynas86

Nutella and white chocolate bars mix ins.

Tried something new. I dug my mix in whole off center and it didn't get pulverized, instead got bigger chunks.

Chocolate and Coffee. Win win.

Mixins are Lilies Dark chocolate

Low fat cool whip, SF chocolate syrup, Sprinkles

This was a new one.. I'll probably up the cream cheese mix in or pudding flavor. Didn't get enough cheese cake flavor..I think a full tbsp cheesecake pudding and half tbsp of salted caramel.

Mix ins - Ghirardelli dark chocolate caramel squares, toppings, lite Cool whip, SF caramel , SF chocolate syrup, added a pinch of dark chocolate chips and a few sprinkles.

Simple recipe today. Vanilla bean without Pudding mix which is a nice change. Used some Easter pastel M&Ms for my mix ins.

Concocted another new recipe in the kitchen lab. Inspiration from the Jeni brand icecream. Base birthday cake recipe with BUM whey protein. 235 cal 39 protein, 4 sugar.

Lots of mixins but all pretty clean. Could probably cut the butter and just use water , swerve and butter extract.

Mix ins

I whipped up some buttercream icing with swerve, water, and 1/2 tablespoon of butter.

I cooked up a 1/4 cup Kodiak powercake birthday cake and added yellow drop of food coloring.

1 tbsp non fat cream cheese (could probably cut this too.)

2 tap rainbow sprinkles, non fat cool whip.

All these mixins bring it up to 485 calories for the pint, but I'm still pretty clean,low fat, low sugar.

Not to shabby since Jeni brand is 930 for the pint and no toppings.

Feel like it needed more icing. Next time I'll cut the butter and maybe cream cheese and double the icing recipe.

Made my second batch without pudding this week and tested a few things.

Guar vs can gum

Xan/Gaur 1:3 ratio mix

Pudding vs No Pudding

There seemed to be no taste or discernable difference in using only xanthum gum, only gaur gum, or the suggested 1:3 golden ratio of xan:gaur mix. Gaur gum is supposedly better for colder recipes per online research and might be true, but I could tell.

This is the 2nd half dozen I've made with the xan:gaur mix. I've made 100s of Xanthum gum only and can't tell the difference.

Conclusion: just use an 8th tsp of whichever gum or gum ratio you like..didn't really matter.

The Pudding 'Taint'

Cons of Using a pudding:

1. SF pudding adds 30 calories per tbsp-so if really minding calories this could matter

2. Some claim it leaves a slime texture (I can't tell) ice cream is wet and creamy in nature so the slick texture is already there.

3. Cost a dollar for 4 uses per pack, so slight expense increase for an ingredient that may not be needed.

Neutral . Observations with Vanilla Pudding: the pudding tends to give vanilla a "French vanilla " taste (Tries kroger and jello brands and both seem the same.) Without pudding left a "Vanilla Bean" taste, all other ingredients being equal (same protein, milk, extracts,. Let's call this a happy accident of neutral.

Didn't notice anything taste wise between chocolate pudding vs no chocolate pudding, only the vanilla.

Pros of using pudding:

1. Allows unique mixture of certain combo flavors, especially cheesecake, butterscotch, and white chocolate based flavors which there are not protein powders for.

2. Other unique flavors and gelatin can be used for fruit or sherbet based flavors. Red velvet, salted caramel, key lime pie, raspberry, like, lemon, orange strawberry gelatin which can be used for sherbet.

3.the LACK of pudding as an Emulsifier EVEN with Xanthum gum and or Xan/Gaur 1:3 mix is a distinct frothiness when mixing in a blender that can overfill the pint that does NOT settle.

Ive noticed this the last two weeks on about a half dozen pints I've made, all without pudding. I blend all my cream is for 5 seconds on low. And pour back into the pint. This usually will result in a rise in total volume because of the air, However they usually decrease with pudding back to the fill line in 15-60 seconds.

The froth on the NON pudding did NOT go down even after 5 minutes of wakting. I capped it thinking it might settle, but nope. This resulted in freezing all the way to the rim. Which means you have to dig it down before spinning which was quite annoying and took about 5 minutes.

Conclusion: consider NOT blending Non pudding mixes or filing them well below the fill line(don't like that option). Which means hand stirring might not result in a good mix of ingredients and/or the pint ingredients freezing in layers.

See pictures of frothy non pudding vs pudding for reference.

New flavor- ameretto is pretty strong on this one and almost seemed to overpower the toffee mixins which had a good crunch..might dial back the extract flavor a bit next time.

-mixins are almonds, toffee bits. Toppings are a bit of almond, toffee bits, low fat cool whip and SF chocolate syrup.