Blueberry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream -- Sugar Free, Gluten Free, and sinfully decadent.

Saturn hard at work again ...

We have a local source of fresh cream and milk directly from a farmer, so we've been making ice cream with the exceptional products we get from him.

I do believe that ice cream can be part of a healthy diet, especially if the ingredients are all as clean as possible, and the sweetener used is as low on the glycemic index as possible. And of course, eaten in moderation.

I have said before that fat is not a four letter word as it were, and have believed for a number of years that our low fat follies of the 80's did far more harm than good. However, as I am personally sensitive to sugar, I find it prudent to be careful of what kind of sweetener I choose. In general, the less sweetener for me the better. By making ice cream with cream and whole milk, but reducing the sweetener, I believe it is a healthier, more body friendly treat than choosing a reduced fat ice cream, which generally will have significant additional sugar and/or high glucose fructose corn syrup to make up for the lack, as well as texturizers and thickeners that will only give your treat a bad taste that all the vanilla in the world can't quite mask ...

I have opted to use a clear agave in this ice cream, which has a couple of advantages. One, it has never been heated to boiling, thus the nutrients are more intact than in many cooked sweeteners. Additionally, it is quite exceptionally sweet, so much less is needed to achieve as much sweetness as your heart could desire. Finally, it doesn't have a strong aftertaste. While I like the coconut nectar a lot, it has a strong 'fruitiness' that can dominate the aftertaste of something as delicately flavoured as ice cream.

We keep our freezer stocked with a small supply of organic wild blueberries, because we like to eat them with breakfast, so I pirated our supply to make this blueberry vanilla bean ice cream. Blueberries and cream at their very best.

Seriously. Yummy.

ingredients:

1 cup cream

1 cup whole milk

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup clear agave

1/2 tbsp ground vanilla bean

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

(if the blueberries are particularly tart, you can add up to 2 tbsp of xylitol in addition to the agave)

1/2  cups frozen blueberries (or 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp)

directions:

1. combine the cream, milk, agave, vanilla, and sea salt

2. add the frozen blueberries and puree with an immersion blender (or in a jar blender)

3. freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers directions.

makes 1 quart