How to Recreate The Most Popular Ice Lollies easily, so that you can enjoy them as part of your Low-Carb or Keto lifestyle.
Made carefully and with the correct ingredients, an ice lolly can be an excellent afternoon snack or post-dinner dessert for everyone on Keto or Low-Carb. Indeed, itâs no surprise that my recent recipes for Sugar Free Gin & Watermelon Ice Lollies and  Cucumber & Lime Ice Lollies have been hugely popular!
Naturally, Iâd still recommend you give those lollies a try. Theyâre delicious and hit the spot, particularly while itâs still fairly warm out. However, because keto treats of this nature are so much easier to make than most other sweets and desserts, I thought you might appreciate some tips for other options. Read on, find out which branded lollies are the nation’s favourites, and learn how you could tweak them to keto-perfection.
Solero Exotic
If youâre a fan of ice cream lollies in the UK, youâve likely come across this brand (and possibly even cherished it in childhood!). Solero Exotic was ranked by Mashable as one of the top lolly choices in the UK just a few years ago, and is easy to find in every shop and supermarket.
According to a listing at Walls Ice Cream, a single serving of Solero Exotic contains about 18g of carbohydrates. Way too much for any keto plan! That said, you can easily adjust the recipe. These lollies are made with skimmed milk, whey, coconut fat, and a fruit sorbet composed of purées (peach and mango) and natural fruit juices (passion fruit and pineapple). They also contain sugar, glucose-fructose syrup, and various stabilisers and emulsifiers.
To make Solero Exotic keto-suitable, you can ditch most of those ingredients, and just replace some of the core elements. First, check out my Keto Ice Cream – Italian Classic Vanilla, which uses lactose-free whole milk. You can always swap this for unsweetened coconut or nut milk of your choosing. I recommend that you leave out the vanilla bean and vanilla extract, since Solero is more fruity than vanilla-y. To this, add natural fruit compote or flavourings, and you should be able to make a version of the delightful Solero Exotic in such a way as to fit your macros.
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Calippo Orange
For many around the UK, a simple Calippo Orange â a stick-like, straightforward ice lolly â is another favourite. This brand was ranked in a survey by Gala Bingo as the seventh most popular option in the UK, but was singled out as a particular favourite among younger respondents (with 10% of people 18-24 naming it their top choice). And given this popularity, itâs another fun lolly to try to recreate. Which in this case means reducing the 24g carbs count.
Calippo Orange is a water and fruit juice-based lolly. In this case, most of the contents you donât want are coming directly from sugars, fructose, glucose, and juices from concentrate. So, once again, if you want to make it keto-friendly, you need only set about replacing these ingredients. According to Unilever, orange juice from concentrate and apple juice from concentrate makes up a combined 25% of the ingredients (20% being orange).
Replacing all those sugars with alternative low-carb sweeteners is easy. I would also add a little gelatine, so you won’t bite into a rock-solid piece of ice. The fruit juice from concentrate is the tricky part. Generally, many on keto steer clear of fruit juices entirely, given their high carb content, and there arenât close substitutes for these ingredients. However, what you can do is opt for something like celery juice or lemon water and add some orange extract.
You may need to tinker a bit with the specific amounts, but you can ultimately approximate the Calippo Orange flavour.
Mini Milks
The Mini Milk is another ice lolly thatâs asserted itself as a popular favourite in recent years ââ coming in as a top choice among âdie-hard ice lolly fansâ polled in a write-up at Stylist.
Despite being ‘mini’, these lollies have a surprisingly high amount of carbs. That’s because they contain whole and skimmed milk, plus tons of different sugars.
But it’s pretty easy to tweak the recipe so it’s just right for keto. Use lactose-free whole milk or an unsweetened plant-based milk that you enjoy, swap the sugars for a sweetener of your choice, add a bit of strawberry juice or cocoa powder depending on which flavour you prefer, and you’ll end up with an excellent substitute.
Replicating these popular lollies exactly like the originals is undoubtedly challenging, and may require a few trials and errors. Still, use my tips as inspiration, source ingredients that work for you, and you’ll end up with some tasty new recipes of your own.
I would love to know if you give these a go and what you did, so other readers can learn from your experience. Send me your comments, whatever the outcome!
