Chocolate Sorbet, Vegan Keto Ice Cream Recipe
Today we are making a Vegan Keto Ice Cream Recipe – Chocolate Sorbet! A little background on how this recipe came about … so SOMA’s is a chocolate factory in Toronto, circa 2003. This company was built on the idea of finding creative ways to enjoy chocolate! As they state on their website: “in cacao beans, nature has made the perfect “soma,” a mystical substance mentioned in the Rig Vega and later by Aldous Huxley in the novel Brave New World.”
Starting off in a corner of a former whiskey distillery, the founders began roasting and refining cacao beans into chocolate. They also made gelato, cookies, hot chocolate, truffles and more! Now that they’ve grown to more storefronts, a chocolate factory and more, their customer base has grown to those of us who love allll things chocolate.
There’s a reason I’m telling this story though. So I recently visited Toronto’s Distillery District. Wandering around, I walked past this chocolate store and went in to check out their vegan ice cream flavors. I ended up getting two scoops of sorbet: blueberry basil and chocolate, as well as a small cocoa-nib-filled chocolate piece.
Everything was delicious, but the chocolate sorbet especially became my favorite flavor. The best part was the way it melted in my mouth with the rich chocolate flavor (and not requiring ANY milk, vegan or otherwise) spoke volumes to me about what could be done with some good quality chocolate and sugar. I decided that same day that I would make a chocolate sorbet at home – I had to recreate this. (With some low-carb options as well, all written below in the substitutions)!
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Keto Ice Cream Recipe
Rich, Creamy, No Milk or Eggs: This recipe is for sorbet, which means it actually isn’t a milk-based, traditional ice cream recipe. It’s similar to a super creamy ice cream, because of the fat in the dark chocolate! Usually, ice cream recipes use full-fat coconut milk, coconut cream, heavy whipping cream or another thick fat as the ice cream base to make the recipe creamy (or even egg yolks)! Here though, we use the cacao butter fat in chocolate to give it an ultra-creamy texture, but also bursting with chocolate flavor, sorbet!
Substitutions: Sweeteners
Coconut Sugar: To keep the recipe super low carb, use monk fruit sweetener, which is a low carb sweetener and is great for a keto diet (it has zero net carbs as per their website for one serving, but when using a whole cup of it, it probably comes out to very little overall).
It doesn’t have the same caramel-like taste that coconut sugar does, but will make the recipe just as sweet! Start out with using a half cup less than what the recipe would require of coconut sugar, as it is a lot sweeter than coconut sugar is, and increase it after tasting the mixture.
For those not looking for low-carb sweeteners, coconut sugar can be substituted with xylitol or another healthier sugar alternative. Another granular sweetener such as brown sugar, albeit refined, can also be used in a 1:1 ratio.
Maple Syrup: I used maple syrup but you can substitute with other liquid keto sweeteners. To keep it low carb, make a simple syrup at home based on monkfruit sweetener!
Take the same amount of monkfruit sweetener to water (eg. 1 cup to 1 cup) and bring it to a boil over the stovetop. Stir it continuously until the monkfruit and water mixture becomes one. Let it cool and then use it as a low-carb liquid sweetener here. Start out a quarter cup less than the maple syrup required, then add more as desired after tasting.
Substitutions: Chocolate & Cornstarch
Cocoa powder: Dutch-processed will be the best cocoa powder here because the acidity has been neutralized with a potassium solution. This “dutching” process also gives it a darker color and a more mellow/earthy flavor.
There are also heavily dutched cocoa powders that are almost black – like that in an Oreo cookie (which you don’t want to use here). On the other hand, natural cocoa powder has not had its acid stripped. You can also use raw, unprocessed cacao powder.
Chocolate: I used dark chocolate and added more sweetener. However, you can reduce the maple syrup if you use semisweet chocolate. Check the ingredient list to make sure the chocolate is vegan and that there are no added dairy products, such as milk powder.
To lower the carbs, check out the natural aisle in most grocery stores. Choose the low-carb chocolate chips that use sweeteners such as monkfruit or erythritol.
Cornstarch: This helped to thicken the sorbet up. Do not substitute with anything else.
Vegan Keto Ice Cream Recipe Notes
- Love Reeses Pieces? Make this recipe a peanut butter chocolate flavor by drizzling some PB on top (or almond butter, and get some healthy fats in too)!
- The use of an ice cream maker is optional, but definitely preferred over a regular blender or food processor. In an ice cream maker, the metal container where the ice cream is churned is frozen in advance, and it scrapes the ice cream against the sides with the blades while it runs.This changes the texture of the ice cream as compared to not using one.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this Vegan Keto Ice Cream Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Vegan Keto Ice Cream Recipe (Chocolate Sorbet)
Equipment
- Ice Cream Maker // High-Speed Blender or Food Processor may be used for a no churn ice cream
- Stovetop Pan
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups water
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa powder dutch-processed if possible
- Pinch salt
- ½ cup vegan dark chocolate chips For a sweeter ice cream, use semisweet chocolate and add half the amount of maple syrup to start. Then increase the maple syrup as desired after
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or a freshly scraped vanilla bean
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 8 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together 1.5 cups of water, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Let it boil while constantly stirring. Once boiling, whisk for 30 seconds and turn off.
- Remove from heat and stir in the dark (or semisweet) chocolate. Then whisk in the vanilla and the remaining water, maple syrup and cornstarch. Make sure there are no clumps. If you used semisweet chocolate instead of dark, start with half the amount of maple syrup, and add more as desired at the end – otherwise, it may end up being too sweet.
- Put the ice cream mixture into the fridge to chill for 6 hours. Make sure you also have your ice cream machine in the freezer.
- Note that if you don't have an ice cream maker, the sorbet won't come out perfect. However, you can freeze the mixture into ice cube trays and blend it in a food processor once frozen, until the final result is like a soft serve ice cream consistency. A food processor is preferred as a substitute due to the wide base, as compared to a blender.
- Once the mixture is cooled, remove it from the fridge and whisk it around. Then add it to the ice cream maker, churning as per the manufacturer's instructions. After about 15 minutes of churning, the sorbet should be done.
- Remove from the ice cream maker and serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
Notes
-
Storage
- Store in an airtight container or in a loaf pan covered with plastic wrap in the freezer for up to one day.
