Sugar Free Coconut Mint Chocolate Ice Lollies: <1g carbs each. Seriously. Under 1g carbs. In each one. Plus DAIRY-FREE and VEGAN!
How can something so delicious be healthy as well! Incredible, isn’t it? But it’s totally doable if you live the keto way. Substitute sugar with a healthy alternative, use low carb ingredients, up the fat, and boom. You can enjoy something that no other ‘diet’ would dream of proposing. And they’re perfect for kids too!
Ice poles, ice lollies, popsicles, icy poles. Whatever you like to call them, there is hardly a more refreshing thing you can cool down with on a hot summer day. Or any day, really. Well, I suppose there’s ice cold drinks, but I’m talking about dessert-like, sweet-bites here.
The best thing about my Sugar Free Coconut Mint Chocolate Ice Lollies is that you don’t need any fancy equipment, either. If you have a blender or NutriBullet-type gizmo, you’re good to go.
Popsicle moulds would be helpful, but aren’t necessary. As long as you have plastic or wooden sticks, you could use any container that holds 65ml of liquid. Even shot glasses would do. Just check that whatever you’re using is freezer-proof. Pour the mixture in your makeshift mould, partly freeze, insert stick in the middle and continue to freeze until set. Voilá! Your Sugar Free Coconut Mint Chocolate Ice Lollies will be a success, whatever their shape.
Ingredients you will need.
A can of unsweetened coconut cream. Or milk, as long as it’s the can type, not the drinking variety. There can be quite a big difference in carbs content between brands. Tesco’s coconut cream seems to contain the least amount of carbohydrates (1.5g per 100g), although the % of actual coconut is quite low. Otherwise, Blue Dragon is a good choice (1.9g per 100g). Forget Natco (5.2g per 100g !!!!). UPDATE: I’ve found better options in terms of both quality and carbs content. HERE is the link for it (U.S. option HERE).
Sugar free mint syrup. A very common ingredient in Italy, but difficult to find elsewhere. I’ve inserted links in the recipe, so you don’t have to spend hours looking for it. You are very unlikely to find it in an ordinary supermarket. If you do, it will probably be the full-on sugar kind. Which you clearly do not want. As an alternative, you could use mint extract diluted in water + some green colouring, although the end result won’t be quite the same.
Icing ‘sugar’ sweetener of your choice. I always use erythritol and stevia in combination, because they are the best keto option. Together, they off-set each other’s after taste beautifully. You can easily make your own sugar free icing ‘sugar’ using erythritol and stevia: click HERE for instructions. However, you can use whatever sweetener you prefer.
Dark chocolate without added sugar. The higher the cocoa % the lower the carbs (usually). The very best chocolate you can buy in supermarkets (in my opinion) is Montezuma’s 100% Absolute Black. It is a tad too bitter for my taste buds, so I usually mix it with icing ‘sugar’ and coconut oil, butter or cream, or a combination of them. If you like bitter chocolate, you can just melt it and use it as it is.
..and finally, the weird one….
…LBG. Well, I guess you don’t have to use it, but I do. Italian ice cream artisans add it to their ice cream mixes to thicken them and lower the freezing point. If it’s good enough for Italian ice cream (the best in the world), it’s good enough for my Sugar Free Coconut Mint Chocolate Ice Lollies!
Locust Bean Gum. A sinister name for a very common ingredient.
Let me reassure you that it has absolutely nothing to do with locusts or any other insect. LBG is an undigestible carbohydrate obtained from the seeds of the carob tree. Hence its other name: carob bean gum. It’s a very common additive and quite similar to guar gum. In Europe it is often listed as an ingredient called E number 410. Not convinced? Read this very informative article on drake.com.
Sugar Free Coconut Mint Chocolate Ice Lollies: The recipe.
How can something so delicious be so simple? Melting the chocolate is the most difficult step!
If you want to whip up something even faster, you can forget the mint and go for plain coconut lollies. Or opt for mint only lollies. The chocolate can be omitted too. Truly spoilt for choice.
Enjoy!
- Yield: 7
- Serving: 1 (65ml)
- Calories: 120
- Fat: 13g
- Net Carbs: <1g
- Protein: <1g
- 400ml coconut cream
- 50ml sugar free mint syrup (click HERE for U.S. option)
- 20g (2 tbsp) Sukrin icing 'sugar' (U.S. alternative HERE) (or Make your Own)
- ⅛ tsp LBG (click HERE for U.S. option)
- 30g unsweetened dark chocolate (I used Montezuma's 100% Absolute Black, click HERE for U.S. option)
- 2 tsp MCT oil (U.S. option HERE)
- 2 measures of Better Stevia pure powder (using the provided scoop) - click HERE for U.S. option.
- shake coconut cream can well, then pour into your blender, add icing 'sugar' and LBG and whizz for 30 seconds.
- fill 65ml popsicle moulds to half way up and freeze for 30-45 minutes, until firm but NOT FROZEN SOLID.
- add mint syrup to remaining coconut cream mix and blend again for 30 seconds.
- remove popsicle moulds from freezer and fill with mint mix; insert sticks and put back in the freezer until solid.
- melt chocolate, add stevia and MCT oil and stir.
- using a teaspoon, hold popsicles horizontally as you drip the chocolate blend over them; turn over and repeat for the other side.
In case you have different size moulds, here are the macros for the whole recipe (just divide by how many popsicles you end up with): Kcals 840; F 95g; C 6.8g; P 6.4g.
Metric kitchen scales are an inexpensive yet invaluable gadget to enable accurate measurement of ingredients. Store them upright in a cupboard or over your worktop and they'll only take up a tiny bit of space. Click HERE for the ones I use. For U.S. option click HERE.
