LOW FAT ALMOND VANILLA ICE CREAM

Low Fat Almond Vanilla Ice Cream image

This is low fat and low sodium, but it sure doesn't taste like it! You can also use 2% or whole milk if you aren't watching fat and calories. Substitute pecans for the almonds and add 2 tsp. butter flavoring for butter pecan ice cream.

Provided by Sasha Kamen

Number Of Ingredients 5

Ingredients

3/4 cup almonds, divided
2 cups 1% milk
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place almonds on a cookie sheet and toast for 15 to 18 minutes. Allow almonds to cool.
2. Meanwhile, heat milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat, about 10 minutes, until steaming, do not allow the milk to boil, remove the milk from the heat.
3. Place 1/2 cup of the toasted almonds into a food processor, process until finely chopped.
4. Stir finely chopped almonds into the hot milk, mix well and allow to steep for at least 30 minutes.
5. In a large sauce pan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar, until smooth.
6. Pour almond milk mixture into egg yolks and sugar mixture, split the vanilla bean into half lengthwise, and add split beans with vanilla seeds into saucepan with all the liquid.
7. Gently heat over medium heat, stirring constantly using a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. This will take about 15-20 minutes.
8. Transfer into a sieve on top of a medium bowl. Sieve out the solids, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. This should result in a smooth vanilla almond ice cream base.
9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
10. Pour into ice cream maker and process for about 25 minutes. Follow any specific directions for your ice cream maker.
11. Coarsely chop remaining 1/4 cup toasted almonds. Add into ice cream maker near the end and process another 3 to 5 minutes.
12. Place the frozen ice cream in a reasonable sized container. It can be served immediately, or you can freeze it until it firms up if desired.