Servings: 6 Prep: 10 mins Cook: 0 mins Total: 6 hrs
I can make a seriously mean bowl of homemade, homespun, natural ice cream. Sure, I can candy the orange rind in a xylitol solution. Absolutely, I can make an egg yolk based custard, because the lecithin helps the scoopabilitiy. I could totally whip up my own homemade blend of inulin, stevia and pulverized non-gmo erythritol. I could totally grow and juice my own oranges, reduce the juice and add in a bit of natural orange oils. I could do all of these things and have something marginally better for me than this simple and delightful recipe, but … you know what?
I’m lazy! There are times where I simply don’t want to do all of that!
Some of the time I just want to open a jar, mix it with cream and freeze it. It’s perfect, tasty, pre-portioned and sitting in my freezer, ready to go for a little late night snack. This is SOOO much better for me than the sugary alternative. Knowing I can whip this up keeps me out of the frozen food aisle at the store.
Ahhhh … such a sweet little treat. It brings me back to a time chasing ice cream trucks, as a kid. Really, this is an awesome recipe, taking only a few minutes to make. Now, all I need to do is figure out how to get a hard frozen orange shell wrapped around the whole thing. Anyone have any ideas? 
Note: The mold used for these popsicles is the Tovolo Groovy Ice Pop Mold.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cream heavy whipping
- 3/4 cup almond milk unsweetened, divided
- 2/3 cup sugar-free orange marmalade
- 2 tbsp 'Swerve' or other sugar replacement
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- dash salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the ingredients, making sure that the sweetener is fully dissolved.
- Pour the mixture into the molds. Fit your handles into the base of the molds and freeze until solid (about 6 hours).
- To remove from the molds, hold under hot tap water for about 10 seconds. The pops ... pop right out!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
Regarding the hard orange shell. Could you make white skinny chocolate with coconut oil, vanilla protein powder, orange food coloring, and orange oil or extract and your sweetener? You would obviously have to melt it all and then dip it after the first step is already frozen. Just a suggestion but may work if you are serious about that. The recipe looks great by the way! Thanks for sharing with us! 🙂
Hi Unknown. Interesting idea! Sort of a "Magic Shell" concept. It’s not quite the same thing, as the original creamsicles are like an orange popsicle shell, with a vanilla ice cream center. What you describe is interesting and I love the idea, but … a different road to walk …
my daughter is lactose in tolerant and tho we can buy some cheeses and milks wo/lactose, I wonder if you have a suggestion for replacing the heavy creams I see in low carb recipes? I have been unable to find anything to even come close to replacing the heavy cream. Thank you in advance.
I’ve been enjoying your recipes. Thanks for sharing.
Just an idea: maybe – on a non-lazy day, of course lol – you could find two popsicle mold sets…similarly shaped, but one slightly larger than the other. Make and freeze the cream pop center in the smaller. Make something like SF orange koolaid in the larger. Partially freeze it into an orange slush, and then place the cream pops into the larger slush-filled molds. My thought is that a slush would be cold enough to not immediately start dissolving the cream pops, but would still be fluid enough to be displaced around the outside of the cream pops to form, when then completely frozen, the popsicle-y shell around the cream pop.
Lisa … first of all … EVERY day is a lazy day! 😉 I DO think you’re on to something. I suspect that this is roughly how they’re made for real. I would need to hunt down two similarly shaped molds, with one being slightly smaller than the other. I’m sure it would work, though. Is the effort really worth it? Hmmmm … maybe on a non-lazy day it could be fun! 😉
Hi Anne, it’s tricky. Cream, especially homogenized cream has very specific properties and behaviors that can’t really be perfectly mimicked. That said … in most applications something like coconut milk will make for a nice alternative. In this recipe, for example, it’s quite fitting. Orange and coconut is a nice flavor combination! Where you begin to run into issues is in the recipes where coconut isn’t a complementary flavor. There is a product called MimicCreme, which is a thickened almond-milk like product. This has a more neutral taste and may work for you in places where the coconut taste isn’t a great match. Keep in mind that coconut milk can separate into coconut oil if it’s overcooked, which can be a bit of a challenge. I haven’t used MimicCreme enough to know its properties in cooking, but I suspect it does have a behavior closer to that of the coconut milk, than cream … but I can’t be sure. Ultimately, there will be different things to use in different recipes. I can’t think of a single "one size fits all" type of solution. Some of the time something like a thickened and flavored stock/broth will work. Other times a nut milk/cream will work. Other times … there may simply be no alternative that will work. Again … for this recipe, I think coconut milk would be perfect, though. I hope this helps! 🙂
I don’t have molds, but I do have an ice cream maker and this recipe is an awesome idea. I upped the quantities to match my freezer (along with more sweetener than was called for) and it was awesome. The only thing that I will do differently next time is to run the blender longer to completely puree the orange marmalade
Steve, I see no reason this wouldn’t make a nice ice cream. That said, I do know that these kinds of sweeteners tend to freeze pretty hard … which makes for a good Popsicle! In this particular case, it may work out, because of the thickeners in the marmalade, but … for future reference … I’ve found that sugar-free ice creams need some help to maintain a softer texture and a nice scoopability when frozen. My response to that has been to make frozen custard bases. The egg yolks help soften the freeze. I also add a touch of salt, which decreases the freezing point (a splash of booze will also work, but … booze can work against us … pick your poison). I’m also a fan of a small amount of food grade vegetable glycerin, and a touch of xanthan gum. Yes, it starts to sound a bit like a science experiment, but … these little tweaks all add up to a far more satisfying and well rounded ice cream experience. Finally … I always remove the ice cream from the freezer and place it in the fridge for about an hour, before eating. This softens it up just a bit … Perfect. 😉
"pretty hard" certainly qualifies as an understatement. But in the case of your recipe, there was so little left over after the first night that it was no big deal to let it thaw out a little before finishing the batch. <br>
I’ve always wondered about the salt that is frequently in home-made ice cream recipes….thanks for the explanation. I’ve tried vodka and xanthum gum alone and in combination. I’ll get some glycerin and try that as well. <br>
Custard recipes may improve the "experience", but overly try my patience. The experience with a 1:1 cream/almond milk (+ sweetener, flavorings, and stabilizers) mixture is pretty much outstanding. <br>
If you like strawberries, puree some, add sweetener to taste (we use alot more than your recipe) and give it a twirl. We’ve used frozen strawberries (no sugar added) to speed up the freezing process all summer long.
I forgot to mention that we blend the strawberries with the cream or almond milk and mix in the other ingredients before adding to ice cream freezer. <br>
Also, you can use the HTML code for hard return to make paragraphs in the comments. (google is your friend). 🙂
At this point, Steve, I’ve probably made just about every possible flavor of ice cream under the sun, from fresh herb infused creams, to sorbets and sherbets to granitas, to semi-freddos, etc. I’ve used berries, whole, pureed, strained, mushed, in store bought jams, etc. Cacao nibs, all manner of nuts, toppings, fillings, fudges, doughs and batters. If it can be eaten … I’ve thrown it into my ice cream machine! I like a good swirl! ;)<br /><br />
Yep, I use HTML in the comments from time to time, but … usually don’t see it as being necessary. Let me know if you come up with any new flavors I may have overlooked! 🙂
—Reply posted by DJ on 2/25/2015
Ok, you win! I have never made Matcha pops. I HAVE made both chai and green tea ice creams, but … never Matcha and never in pop form. Interesting idea. I dig it! 🙂
—Reply posted by Jenn on 2/25/2015
Challenge accepted – Matcha Pops! With coconut cream…ok, yum.