Low Carb Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream

I was eager to do another cheese ice cream after the success of the Low Carb Roquefort and Honey Ice Cream. I decided to try doing one combining apple pie filling and cheddar cheese. The ice cream will be flavored with sweet caramel, apple, and cinnamon flavorings. I don’t trust any of the ready-made no-sugar-added apple pie fillings in a can, so I’m going to do one myself for the mix-in.

I designed this recipe to use ingredients that are accessible to home chefs. The ice cream base uses the “Caramel Delight” flavor fountain. Apple and cinnamon flavoring is added to the mix, but I suppose that it would be preferable to get your hands on apple-cinnamon ice cream flavoring, if possible.

I tried to get a really sharp cheddar cheese so that the flavor would stand out. It was discernible, but not strong. Try to use the sharpest one you can find. Cheddar is harder than blue cheese, so perhaps it would be a better idea to shred most of it. I had to pour the mix back into the pot and heat it at a lower temperature to get it to melt and integrate the cheese into the mix more.

I initially assumed that I needed two apples worth of pie filling, but one was enough. Well, almost. I needed a little extra. Fortunately I made double the pie filling, so I had enough for the quart of ice cream. Adding some low carb apple-cinnamon granola would have been a good idea as a pie crust replacement. Perhaps that would be useful to make up the difference on a future batch? I used Granny Smith apples since they’re tart and I thought it would provide a nice contrast. You can use any kind of apple you like except for Red Delicious because they suck. I’ll do this ice cream again when the Honeycrisps are available in the fall.

Ingredients

Apple Pie Filling

1 apple (115 g) granny smith, cored, peeled, and cut into pieces
1 tablespoon Truvia
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
⅛ teaspoon Dixie Diner’s Thick It Up Low Carb Thickener
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Ice Cream

1¼ cup (303 g) unsweetened almond milk or equivalent
1½ tablespoons Truvia
5 tablespoons LC Foods Milk Powder (optional)
4 large egg yolks
4 ounces (115 g) sharp cheddar cheese, room temperature
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum or ½ teaspoon Dixie Diner’s Thick It Up Low Carb Thickener
1 tablespoon (18 g) vegetable glycerin
21 drops EZ-Sweetz
½ teaspoon apple flavoring
32 drops Capella cinnamon coffee cake flavor drops
1 tablespoon LorAnn Oils Flavor Fountain Flavorings, Caramel Delight
1¼ cup (298 g) heavy cream

Directions

1. Apple Pie Filling: Peel and core apple. Cut up into small bits. Unlike a real apple pie with big chunks of apple, we want small pieces. Put into empty ice cream container and sprinkle with Truvia, cover, and shake until Truvia coats the apple pieces.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add butter to non-stick frying pan and melt under medium-low heat. Stir in cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and thickener. Do not use more thickener than specified. Add lemon juice, and stir rapidly. Add apples and stir constantly while cooking until apples shrink slightly and become a little tender.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Ice cream: Add the egg yolks to the 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup and let stand.
4. In a small pot, add unsweetened almond milk, Truvia, and low carb milk powder. Heat on stove top at medium heat until it reaches approximately 170 °F while stirring periodically.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Slowly pour the warm mixture from the pot into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.
   
   
   
   
   Scrape the warmed mixture back into the pot and return it to the stove top. Add the crumbled cheese to the 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup and put a strainer on top of it.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. The temperature should not exceed 175 °F. This may take a while to thicken sufficiently.
   
   
   
   
   Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the crumbled cheese.
   
   
   
   
   Mix the hot custard and crumbled cheese until it’s melted and integrated. I used an electric hand mixer on medium-low. It’s okay if there are a few small bits of cheddar cheese left. If the cheese hasn’t melted enough, pour it back into the pot and heat on low (no more than 140 °F) until enough has melted into the mix, then transfer back to the mixing cup. Whisk in the xanthan gum or Dixie Diner’s Thick It Up Low Carb Thickener while it’s still warm. Add and mix in the EZ-Sweetz, glycerin, heavy cream, flavorings and whisk together.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in a refrigerator until cooled completely.
8. Follow your ice cream maker’s directions for making ice cream. Remove from the ice cream using a silicone spatula and add some to the container. Add a layer of apple pie filling. Repeat until done. Freeze until solid.