Ice cream has been one of the biggest temptations of my life. And since I found that I had candida, most ice cream treats had been ripped out of my diet.
I have managed to come up with a few low carb replacements, including Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Chocolate Almond Chip Ice Cream, and some guest writers have shared fantastic recipes for Lemon Poppyseed Ice Cream and Mocha Chip Ice Cream (non-coconut based), and even some fun 3-Ingredient Strawberry Sage Popsicles. Today, however, I'm sharing a low carb version of something I used to love as a child – Sugar Free Fudgesicles.
My History with Ice Cream
I'm not sure if there is anyone out there who loves ice cream as much as I do. In fact, it's been a “thing” my whole life.
I still remember having the ice cream man come down our street and being thrilled to hear the bells (I can't believe it was only about 10 cents for a treat back then!). And my mom would regularly buy Breyer's Natural Mint Chocolate Chip and I would eat way too much of it after school while doing homework and watching TV (no I do not recommend combining the two. Just being a little vulnerable here. Sigh.)
Then later, in high school, I worked in a local ice cream parlor. Big mistake. This was the kind of ice cream parlor where they had loads of toppings (including huge chunks of Reese's cups, etc.) and homemade cookies, and we were allowed to eat some, so eat we did.
I way too often didn't eat dinner as a result. Again, I don't recommend this.
In college, the love affair with ice cream continued. We didn't have it as a regular treat, but my housemates and I would drive to a grocery store that had a soft serve machine. They charged by the container, not by weight (like most of them do today) so you can imagine the theatrics we went through to get our ice cream tower as tall as possible and make it to the register before it toppled over.
Alas, ice cream followed me through life. While dating my husband, trips through McDonald's drive through were one of our dates of choice. We'd get a soft serve and share it, and then go back for another — or two.
Most recently, now that we're all eating a much lower carb diet, our ice cream treats have been relegated to occasional stops at Whole Foods when on a trip. We splurge for So Delicious No Sugar Added Coconut Milk pints which we share as a foursome.
Pricey (about $8/pint), but yum.
The Frugal Special Diet Mom's Solution – Sugar free Fudgesicles
Get it? I LOVE ice cream.
But I don't love paying $8 a pint for it.
Plus, if your family is on a special diet as ours is, visiting an ice cream shop or parlor isn't a real option. You can, of course, find dairy-free options pretty much everywhere you go these days, but to find dairy-free AND low carb in an ice cream is pretty much impossible.
And if you can find it, the cost is prohibitive, a la those almost $8/pint treats I mentioned above.
So I'm a huge advocate of homemade ice cream makers and popsicle molds. They're a must for families on special diets that don't have “special incomes”, if you know what I mean.
Plus, you have the world at your fingertips. No settling for the one flavor that meets your needs at the ice cream shop — you can make pretty much anything you desire.
And if you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec, you can make loads of healthy ice creamy treats in your blender. If you can handle the carbs, frozen bananas are an amazing base for homemade dairy-free ice creams.
And for the low carbers out there, avocado works amazingly well and so do frozen fruits like peach, strawberry, blueberry, etc. It's amazing what you can do with one of those machines!
Anyhow, thanks to a blogger friend of mine who no longer is blogging, I have this recipe for sugar-free fudgesicles that is not only sugar-free, but is dairy-free too.
By the way, these are on the dark side of the chocolate scale so tone back the cocoa or carob if you prefer something a little less dark. I recommend you add the ingredients little by little and taste as you go.
Recipe Notes
- Here is how to make your own coconut milk.
- Use organic carob powder instead of cocoa for AIP.
- You can substitute 1 1/5 tsp powdered stevia and a dash vanilla for the vanilla liquid stevia. Use honey or maple syrup with vanilla for AIP.
- Omit gelatin or use organic agar for a vegan option. The gelatin will help prevent ice crystals from forming and assist in maintaining a creamy texture.
Fantastic Dairy-Free Sugar-Free Fudgesicles - AIP & vegan option
Ingredients
- 13.5 oz coconut milk (398 ml)
- 5 Tbsp cocoa powder (use carob for AIP)
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 36 drops vanilla liquid stevia (see Recipe Notes for alternatives)
- 1 tsp key lime or lemon juice
- 1 tsp grass-fed gelatin (use agar for vegan version)
- unsweetened chocolate (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Whisk first 5 ingredients in a bowl, large measuring cup, or batter bowl and adjust sweetness and flavors to taste.
- Dissolve gelatin in 4 tbsp boiling water.
- Whisk gelatin or agar into coconut milk mixture until well combined.
- Pour into molds.
- Freeze for 4-6 hours.
- Grate unsweetened chocolate on top before serving, if desired.
NOTE: If you find the popsicles are a bit hard after a few days in the freezer, let them sit out for 5-10 minutes before serving, if you can wait that long!
When choosing molds for these sugar-free fudgesicles, there are so many good ones out there, but the ones that I linked to have really good ratings on Amazon.
If you're still in the mood for even more ice cream treat inspiration beyond sugar free fudgesicles, visit my roundup of Low-Carb Dairy-Free Ice Creams. You are sure to find a new favorite or two there.
What is YOUR favorite kind of ice cream treat?
Do you have a carb/calorie count?
Hi there – we’re working on it but having technical difficulties. Please for now use an online calculator that you trust and we hope to have it going soon. Thanks for your patience!
I would love to try these. I was wondering what the difference is if you would use just regular plain gelatin. Is it because of the protein? I was looking for grass fed gelatin today. I would have had to purchase some that cost about $23. That made me wonder if I couldn’t use regular gelatin. I understand you did say to use agar instead. I will have to look for that since I am on this new eating regimen. No sugar, grains, dairy. I did find out apparently my “grains” are just wheat and oat because I can use the other flours. I am at the very bottom of the learning curve. So please excuse all my questions. Thank you.
The issue is the quality of the ingredients. More and more I’m trying to eat really healthy food and sourcing of animal foods is important–questions are fine! I think gelatin will work better.
Are you saying it probably was my flax seeds?
Other question was is grass fed gelatin necessary as opposed to regular just gelatin? I do not know what regular gelatin is made from.
I think you are asking about the wrong recipe, right – the flax is for the flax bread.
Grass fed gelatin comes from Grass fed cows and it’s typically higher quality b/c the regular gelatin is from factory farms and they have bad practices like the use of regular antibiotics, etc.
Sorry. My mistake. I was talking fudgesicles. Thanks.
No problem :). No flax in fudgesicles and no gelatin in flax bread unless you are making gelatin eggs :).
Wondering if there is a way to keep this from freezing super solid after a few days in the freezer? It’s great with the pop molds, but I have tiny pints I use for excess and the mixture freezes so solid even after letting it sit out for a little bit. Can I add more gelatin? Or is there something else. Or is it impossible since it’s dairy free and without eggs.
Thank you! This recipe is amazing, my husband and I love it.
Hi there. One possibility is to add 1 T vegetable glycerine to the mix and then freeze. Sorry for the delay :). I hope it works. I haven’t tried it yet.
I was just thinking of fudgesicles today and then I stumbled across this recipe. Thanks! In fact thanks for this whole blog! I have spent an unreasonable amount of time over the last few days reading it and finding recipes. Wow. Such a resource. We are doing a tooth healing diet in my family, so you have many things that I am finding useful. Thanks for all your time creating, researching, and sharing!!! I am a new fan!
What a fabulous coincidence! I’m so glad to “meet you.” More to come. Actually a bunch more should be coming soon. I have been meaning to do that diet as well but thought I needed something more aggressive and went with 2 supplements – one has been proven to regenerate bone.
Are you doing broth and paleo?
Thanks for the kind words!
Yes, I’m doing broth (though still working on making it consistently), some paleo, but mostly traditional foods. So, grinding grains and sifting them to make sourdough products. But I want to try wheat free (and maybe grain free) for a bit.
What is the supplement you mentioned?
Hi Stephanie. I finally was able to figure out how to link to them! Thanks for your patience.
Here is the first one. They are both affiliate links. Life Extension (go there and search for “Dr. Strums”)
and this is the other one. Drynaria For this one, you do need to set up a 15 min free consult in order to get access as the company that makes it restricts access.
There is proven results from the 2nd one. https://nutritionreview.org/2014/07/drynaria-gentle-dental-herb/ Hope that helps!
Thanks Adrienne!! Those look like pretty good supplements. I take horsetail as an herbal bone mender, but the Chinese herbs sound very effective too.
And a side note….I made those chocolate chips. They are dangerous! I made a cocoa carob mix with coconut oil and honey and they are fudgy goodness. I am eating way to much!! Next batch I’ll try with the cocoa butter and stevia I just ordered, but I’m not sure when next time should be, considering my lack of willpower!! Thanks for the tasty recipes!!
I agree on the supplements. We eat too many also. Good thing they aren’t made of junk! Take care!
These sound great. Interesting bit about the gelatin helping in preventing ice crystals. You have lots of patience Adrien (the sugar bit above)! Good grief:)
Thanks, Rikki! Yes, it is interesting and it works! Yes, it was a little much. I really wanted to make sure everything is straight, but I just don’t have time right now! I love your site! I really like the Candy Pink top and the sweater! I was just thinking I need to resize some tops. I used to sew a ton but haven’t done much in years and I bought some XXLs from online b/c they didn’t have my size!!! Got any good tips?
Thanks for your kind words regarding my humble blog!:) My sister-in-law took in a bunch of tops (mostly tshirts) by laying one of her small ones over the bigger shirts as a guide for how much to take it in. I think she found the idea on Pinterest! She recently got on the sewing bandwagon:)
You are so welcome. Really I found it to be fun. I did a little portfolio of clothes I had sewn as part of my college application package. I had other gals model them for me. I will check that out. They are boatneck shirts, so a little more complicated, especially for a rusty seamstress like me. I really don’t have time, but I really like these tops and they were only about $8 each!
Looks like a great recipe. I’m thankful to find ‘treat’ type recipes that don’t require adding sugar. They are a great teaching recipe for kids to see that you don’t need to dump in gallons of sugar to create a tasty snack. My son loves to cook with me and these kinds of recipes are perfect for that. Thanks again!
Hi Danielle!
Thanks and I totally agree with you. My sons have never bought ice cream from a truck for that very reason….well, my son has a life threatening allergy to dairy so that helps but of course I could technically let him have those icky color and sugar-filled snow cones, etc. My boys used to cook with me more than they do now….you are blessed. I need to work on that again with them. Take care!
These sound AMAZING! I’ve actually never used coconut milk for anything, since we’re not dairy-free, but I bet the flavor with the chocolate would be so great.
And how awesome that these don’t have any sugar! I don’t think coconut milk has much, if any, so these totally qualify as sugar-free. My father-in-law and husband are both diabetic so they could totally eat this (even with the minimal carbs) with no problems. Yay for low- and no-carb treats!! 🙂
I agree with you on the coconut and chocolate combo — think Mounds or Almond Joy! My mother was a diabetic and from the research I did into the ADA’s recommended recipes, their dessert recipes really could have used major carb overhauling. I’m all for low carb treats myself as well. I’m not diabetic, but too many carbs don’t sit well with me either. Take care!
Ooh, these look like a good treat for my kids. I like to be able to give them some sort of dessert every once in awhile, but not a bunch of refined sugars, so I may need to give this recipe a try! And coconut milk has so many great health benefits, too!
Thanks, Rebekah! Until I was a whole foodie I never really ate coconut — I thought it had too much fat :(. But I know better now! Hope you like them if you try them!
Oooh! Yum. I could totally go for some of these right now. And sugar-free to boot? Count me in!
Wish we could hang out together and share some! In fact, I’m craving one now :)!
This looks GREAT! I’m always on the lookout for naturally sweetened “sweets” for my kiddo! Too much sugar laden crap these days, and it’s everywhere!!
Thanks! I agree – and most of the “sugar-free” stuff out there is loaded with Nutrasweet and Sucralose which I do not want in my house.
I loved fudgesicles as a kid but haven’t had one in years since trying to eat whole foods. These look super yummy! I know my kiddos would love them, too.
Hey thanks, Kristen! I hope you get the chance to make them and relive some memories :).
Regarding your many definitions. Fine. Didn’t really need them.
Sugars are called saccharides in biochemistry. There are 3 basic categories: monosaccharides (simple sugars), disaccharides (2 molecule sugars like table sugar which is glucose and fructose) and polysaccharides.(multiple complex sugars). The larger name for the group is called carbohydrates.
In your homemade coconut milk, you call for “1 cup unsweetened, dried medium shredded coconut meat” and not the “1.75 cups” you state in your response to me. You also say “4 cups filtered water” and not the “7-8 cups water” you quote in your answer to me to knock the amount of sugar in your coconut milk recipe down.
There’s 17 grams of sugar in 1 cup unsweetened coconut meat in the 4 cups water so 14 ounces, the equivalent of 1 can full fat coconut from your OWN recipe for fudgesicles would have 43% of 17 grams sugar in the coconut milk prepared by your recipe from your web site would yield a little over 7 grams sugar divided by 6 would be a little more than 1 gram sugar using your own recipe.. STILL sugar!! The basis for my information is food item 12108 from USDA Database SR 24. But keep on fudging your fudgesicles.
By the way, all caps is for emphasis as it has been for YEARS and years before the Internet and not meaning rude or “yelling” at all as you bloggers have re-defined it. So that’s why I do it — emphasis only.
The rest of your rambling is just that.
I know what sugars are called.
Yes, I did publish the coconut milk recipe that way, but I have recently done it a different way and that’s where that information came from. I didn’t do that to “knock the amount of sugar” down.
I could redo the calculations and make sure I have the resulting amount of homemade coconut milk accurate, but right now we have too much coconut milk and also my family needs me more than responding to these kind of rude comments. So I will not redo the calculations at this time.
You also neglected to correct your false statement about the canned coconut milk from your first comment. I had linked to Thai Coconut Milk on Amazon. (My son said he chose that kind because it was less expensive, but I really wanted him to use Native Forest because while I almost never buy coconut milk, I know they have BPA-free cans and are high quality; plus I know it apparently works well for Homemade Coconut Whipped Cream and I wanted to try that for my family, so it’s what I have in my pantry.) In any case, the can of Thai milk actually had 5 grams of sugar and not the 2 that you noted. I’m just pointing this out since you are so bent on accuracy.
Anyhow, it is illogical that you lean on the recent FDA definition of “sugar-free” for your argument’s purposes, dismissing much history of the term “sugar-free,” but when I cite current thinking about writing in all caps you state that it’s a recent definition and therefore invalid.
Finally, I am typically very happy to engage my readers and answer sincere concerns, but I will not be responding to your future comments because you seem to only be concerned with picking others apart and accusing, and that is not the spirit of interaction that I want on my blog. I feel bad saying this, but I ask you to not comment any more unless you are seriously interested in backing off of this inappropriate interaction.
Judith,
It sounds like you were really disappointed to find this recipe and then discover it seemed to have more sugar in it than you could tolerate. It’s great that you take the time to ensure that your food truly meets your standards.
I just wanted to note also that my dried coconut from Trader Joe’s has only 8g of sugar per cup, so if you make it yourself or use the right brand of coconut milk, it would have less than 1g of sugar per serving (8 ÷ 2=4, 4÷6=.66 g of sugar per serving) and maybe you could totally still enjoy this recipe!!
Thanks for that, Stephanie!
I just found this as well – only 4.98 grams per cup. Wonder what the variation is. https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/coconut?portionid=35336
There’s 2 grams of sugar in each fudgesicle from the can of coconut milk in the recipe. So the recipe is NOT “sugar-free” but “no added sugar”. A 14 ounce can of coconut milk has 13 grams of sugar divided by 6 servings = 2+ grams sugar each. Dried, unsweetened coconut has 8 grams of sugar per 100 grams of dried meat alone so when it is made into “milk”, that sugar comes along.
Hi Judith. Thanks for commenting.
There are actually a number of definitions of sugar-free. One is that sugar is replaced by another (typically artificial) sweetener. Another would be what you appear to be referring to, which is a labeling rule for food products. I’m sure you have noticed that there are many many blogs and recipes out there stating that their blog and/or recipe is sugar free and while I don’t use the typical replacement sweeteners (aspartame or Sucralose or saccharine), I opt for sweeteners that do not feed candida and do not raise blood sugar and do not add carbs to the recipe. And in fact, almost all of my recipes are low carb, so they are even more helpful for those who are watching their carbs.
I hope that helps.
Hi Adrienne,
And to think I took it to really mean “sugar-free” — my mistake. I understand the recipe is low carb but it simply is NOT free of sugar which is what sugar-free means above and beyond food labeling laws. Don’t feel bad. I’ve caught RDs calling ice cream made with milk with lactose “sugar-free”!
You can justify your use any way you want to. You didn’t say it was “sugar replacement free”, you said it was “sugar-free” and to a diabetic or someone else that has to watch for “sugar” as a component of a recipe, that is completely misleading and inaccurate regardless of how you justify it on the basis of what other bloggers do. Thanks for the explanation of how you choose to inaccurately define the term.
Hello Judith.
I was not saying that I labeled this as Sugar Free b/c other bloggers were doing it that way – I just mentioned that as a fact. It is, however, common practice and, in fact, as I mentioned, having other sweeteners as a sub for sure is one of the definitions of sugar-free.
I too have caught problems in labeling. Both online and in stores. So we are perhaps equally diligent people.
I am wondering what you thought the popsicles would be made of it you were in fact thinking they were completely sugar free, since even all vegetables and nuts contain some amount of sugar. Were you thinking, perhaps that they were made from meat? Even cocoa has some sugar in it so I am not sure what you were thinking when you clicked on the recipe. Please do explain.
I am confused also about why you say “don’t feel bad” but then you say “thanks for the explanation of how you choose to inaccurately define the term”, therein insulting me. Perhaps you didn’t mean that you don’t want me to feel bad or maybe I am misreading your comment. Your first sentence “and to think I took it to really mean ‘sugar-free’ — my mistake” sounds pretty sarcastic too so I guess I am not sure what to believe. You either do or don’t want me to feel bad and it seems to be the first.
Please do clarify.
Your recipe meets NO condition for a definition of “sugar-free” period. What I expect from a recipe labeled “sugar-free” for reasons other than key word search value is that EACH serving be truly sugar-free and this recipe doesn’t meet that minimum requirement at 2 + carbs of sugar per popsicle because it is made with coconut milk for reasons previously explained.
Now if it were made with unsweetened almond milk, it would have fit the “sugar-free” key search word. Yes, most veggies and nuts do contain some carbs but it is the net carbs that count and if the net carbs are <.5, it is a "sugar-free" item PER SERVING. Cocoa powder, unsweetened only has .03 g sugar per teaspoon which is hardly a source of sugar per serving and that is very easy to work into a serving of a fudgesicle at that level for a chocolate taste. Your recipe has 5 T which is 8 net carbs /6 = 2 g net carbs but only .48 g sugar which is half glucose and half fructose. Glucose goes to blood and fructose goes to the liver — two different things. That counts as a "0". That's not part of the 2+ g sugar in the per servings I was talking about.. It is the sugar in the coconut milk that kicks this recipe out of the "sugar-free" world.
What did I think the popsicles would be made of if I thought they would actually be sugar-free — certainly not carrots or eggplant or meat but go right ahead with your insults. I'm tough and I don't get rattled by them.
When I thanked you for explaining how you chose to define the term, I was being polite. Interesting you took it as an insult. Yes my first sentence was actually irony meaning I didn't realize I could misunderstand the simple term "sugar-free" so completely. But you can extend it to mean sarcastic if that makes you feel better. Doesn't bother me.
None of this was ever meant to make you feel bad. Rather to help you be more careful when throwing out the word "sugar-free" on your recipes when they aren't. Many people depend on the ACCURACY of these recipes to feel safe about what they prepare and eat such as a brittle diabetic. For those people.l, 2+ grams is a BIG deal more than a key word search!!
Thank you for your additional comments. They have been additionally interesting.
Hi again, Judith.
I am sorry but I disagree with you that my recipe “meets “NO condition for a definition of ‘sugar-free’ period. In fact, it meets exactly what many people and even corporations define to be sugar-free and until the recent food packaging labeling laws these fudgesicles would have been labeled as sugar-free in stores.
Here are some (some are repeated) definitions of sugar-free:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/sugar-free (this is what typically would have been used for packaged foods)
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sugar-free (“contains no sugar” which would be interpreted as white granulated sugar — see my notes below
https://diabetes.sanofi.us/dear-diabetes-sugar-free/ (this is from 2013 and my fudgesicles would certainly apply to one of those in this list)
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sugar-free (again, this definition includes the word ‘sugar’ and typically would be referring to white granulated sugar)
https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Sugar+Free (this is your definition. Please note that it refers to labels on food packaging.)
https://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/sugar%E2%80%93free (“containing an artificial sweetener instead of sugar”)
In fact, if you were to go to a restaurant or to someone’s home and ask for sugar, you would receive white granulated table sugar. So in that sense, these fudgesicles are sugar-free and I have gone many steps further in that they do not contain agave, sucanat, or other sweeteners that raise blood sugar so I have given a better solution in that sense.
This video from Ricki Heller might be of interest. Ricki is a PhD and though her PhD is not in nutrition, she is a well-learned woman from a very highly regarded university and she maintains a well-respected sugar-free blog. https://www.rickiheller.com/2015/07/what-does-sugar-free-really-mean/
I am sorry that I took your comments as being insulting when you didn’t apparently mean it, but perhaps you need to be more careful in how you come across. Additionally, using all caps is regularly considered to be rude behavior in email correspondence and you have done that numerous times here. As for your keyword search comments, I don’t know if you are insinuating that I put sugar-free on the label for a keyword search. I did not. I did it b/c that is what they are.
May I ask, on a related topic, if you think that nuts are unhealthy? Because the FDA just came down on KIND Bars since they had the word “healthy” on their bars and the FDA’s definition of “healthy” has a saturated fat requirement that the nut-heavy bars do not mean.
Finally, the coconut milk that I linked to for my recipe has zero carbs in it so I don’t know what coconut milk you are referring to that has that much sugar. My son actually linked to Thai Coconut Milk first by mistake but I had asked him to link to Native Forest, which has zero grams of sugar in each serving That link has been changed. Thai had very few as well – only 5 grams in the whole can.
I just did calculations on the recipe using coconut milk the way I make it. It’s possible that I made a mistake but I don’t think so. In any case, here is what I came up with.
I use approx 1.75 cups dried coconut with 7 cups of water to make about 7.5 – 8 cups of coconut milk. As such, for 1.75 cups of coconut milk for this recipe, that would result in 2.76 grams of sugar for the coconut milk in this recipe. Divided by 6 popsicles, that is less than .5 grams of sugar per popsicle.
So I hope this is helpful. Thanks again.
Cocao powder has 0 sugar. Don’t use the stuff for hot chocolate-that contains sugar. Check your labels.