Low Carb Egg Nog Ice Cream

This has been a flavor that I’ve been meaning to try ever since I first read the Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. Egg Nog ice cream ought to be a slam dunk since Egg Nog is practically unchurned sweet cream base with nutmeg for flavoring. Nope. It took quite a bit of work to perfect it.

Every attempt to make this 100% all-natural resulted in failure. I tried egg yolks and spices, but it just didn’t taste like egg nog. I blame the “Coconut Effect.” No, it’s got nothing to do with that delicious stuff scraped out of a giant seed.

The Coconut Effect describes any sound effect, special effect, or design feature that is unrealistic, but still has to be included because viewers have been so conditioned to expect it that its absence would be even more jarring.

The trope namer is the traditional foley effect of using hollow coconut shells to recreate the sound of horse hooves in theater, and later radio, film and television.

Horses hooves do sound like a pair of coconut shells being tapped together... when the horse is walking on cobblestones or some other hard pavement... Nevertheless, filmmakers and radio producers stuck the coconut sound on the audio track even when the horse was on grass or gravel...until audiences came to expect the specific audio cue. Real recorded hoofbeats on later, more sophisticated productions sounded “wrong” to test audiences (or more likely, clueless producers).

Most people don’t make homemade Egg Nog. People expect Egg Nog to taste like the junky stuff that comes out of the carton you buy at the supermarket. When Egg Nog ice cream tastes like...just regular ice cream, the illusion is broken. Fortunately, there is Egg Nog flavoring that imparts this weird flavor to the mix. LorAnn Oils sell it in a quart size, but you can also buy it from Alpha Freezz in a smaller 8 fl. oz. container. Better yet, just get the ounce size of the LorAnn Oils Egg Nog candy flavoring and use it instead.

Ingredients

Low Carb Ice Cream Base
1-2 teaspoons LorAnn Oils Egg Nog candy flavoring or 1-2 tablespoons Egg Nog ice cream flavoring
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Follow the instructions for the Low Carb Ice Cream Base. Add the nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice prior to cooking and add the Egg Nog flavoring after the mix has cooled, if applicable. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours.
2. Follow your ice cream maker’s directions for making ice cream. Remove from the ice cream maker using a silicone spatula into the container. Freeze until solid.