Great Scoopable Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Scoopable Vanilla Ice Cream 
(from Becky @ Becky's Place)
1c half & half
1/2c xylitol
30 drops liquid vanilla stevia
pinch salt
1T homemade vanilla extract
1tsp xanthan gum
2c heavy whipping cream

Pour h&h, xylitol, stevia and salt into a bowl.  Stir and let xylitol dissolve.  Add vanilla extract and xanthan gum, whisk until blended.  Pour in hwc.  Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.  Follow directions for machine to make ice cream.

*I experimented by using my homemade vanilla extract, which was made using vodka, in hopes of the alcohol helping to keep the finished ice cream scoopable.  I also decided to try xanthan gum with the same hope in mind.  This recipe is also higher fat than the first time I tried making lower carb ice cream.  Whether it was one of those reasons or all of them together, 48hrs later, my ice cream is easily scoopable and without crystals.  This tastes like DQ soft-serve to me.  Yummo!

8/30/13 - I experimented again and made it with 1/2tsp xanthan gum. I want to see if that makes a difference in its scoopability. (Follow up: this was not as easy to scoop.)

8/3/14 - Tried with a can of coconut milk and the last of hwc and h&h that I had, which amounted to 3c total for the liquid. Reduced stevia to 20 drops.

5/22/16 - I've got some cashew milk to try to use up, so I made a batch of this again. This time I used 1&1/2c cashew milk and 1&1/2c hwc, omitted stevia drops, added 1tsp Monin sf vanilla syrup.