Ice cream is a kid (and adult!) favorite dessert, but store bought ones often contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, or other ingredients that we avoid.
This recipe is a healthy and incredibly delicious alternative to store bought ice cream and it is simple to make at home. We use this ice cream maker (which makes ice cream in 20 minutes without ice or salt) but if you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can also use this tin can method (PDF) which is a fun activity for the kids!
Homemade ice cream is very high in brain healthy fats and nutrients. For those who are dairy sensitive, the butter can be omitted and coconut milk used, making this a delicious coconut-pecan recipe. Another variation is to add some shredded coconut and coconut oil in place of the butter for a coconut ice cream.
I’ll be posting more of our favorite ice cream recipes soon, but here’s the one my kids currently love…
Butter Pecan Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk or two cups fresh raw milk
- ½ cup butter softened to room temperature
- 2-3 TBSP vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 raw egg yolks from trusted source pastured hens optional, but really improves texture
- ¼ cup each maple syrup and honey
- ½ to 1 cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Place all ingredients except pecans in a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Stir in pecans.
- Pour into ice cream maker or small tin can for that method.
- Turn on ice cream maker and follow user instructions or roll/shake the can for 20+ minutes until done...
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Like this recipe? Check out my new cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!
Next on our list to make: Mint Chip, Raspberry Chip, Mocha and others…. what is your favorite?
Confessions of a Natural Mom
Okay, used the recipe exactly. Even bought this ice cream maker!! Did not work. What did I do?? What can I do?? I really want this recipe to work!
Would this work with raw cow’s milk and 1 pint of medium heavy cream?
Do you have better results with salted or unsalted butter?
Dear Katie, This recipe looks wonderful, and upon your recommendation we just purchased the Cuisinart ICE-21 1.5 ice cream maker. I have been unable to determine whether the inner pot is made of aluminum. The comments on Amazon are not decisive, and none of the representatives at Cuisinart were able to answer my questions. Do you have any thoughts on the matter? With gratitude, Crystal
Where are the ingredients listed? I just don’t see it.
There’s a bug we’re trying to fix in some of the recipes which is why it’s not showing up right now. Will hopefully have it fixed very soon.
Raw milk is against the law in Canada. And, honestly, I was a kid when I tested raw milk (S Europe), and me being born in a city, I drank pasteurized milk since I was switched to cow milk. But, when I visited a friend in a rural area, they had a cow, and she brought me a glass with freshly “brewed” milk. I tried but I did not like it at all. So while living there we had raw milk, but my mum always boiled it before using it for me. I know that raw milk has different composition than the boiled one similar to raw honey vs pasteurized. I would do yogurt and cheese with raw milk, but just to drink a glass of milk, no thank you. And to do that, I need to take up farming and have my own cow. Easy, breezy.
Delicious recipe. However, I did not like the distinct flavor of egg, so I recommend using no more than 3 eggs for this serving size. Thank you for sharing!!
I’ve ordered some genuine Stevia leaves (dried which can be made into powder) because I’m on a sugar free diet. Have you ever used STEVIA in your ice cream? Or has it worked out for anyone else?
Thank you! 🙂
I just made this; it was perfect! My teen thought it was the best thing ever.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe and all you do!!
Hello everyone!
I am in agreement. This amazing ice cream. To prevent the butter from clumping did you try bringing all the ingredients to room temp?