What Is Chocolate ice milk and How Can I Use It?
Here's everything worth knowing about chocolate ice milk and how to pick it, what it is, how to store it, and what to use instead, plus 2 recipes to cook tonight.
Key Points
- Chocolate ice milk is a frozen chocolate dessert made with milk instead of cream, so it carries less butterfat.
- Less fat means it freezes harder and tastes icier than rich chocolate ice cream.
- Substitute low fat or regular chocolate ice cream; the old "ice milk" label is now sold as low fat ice cream.
What is chocolate ice milk?
Chocolate ice milk is a lighter, leaner cousin of chocolate ice cream. It is a frozen chocolate dessert made with milk instead of cream, so it carries much less butterfat than a true ice cream.
In the United States, that fat level is what splits the two. By the old standard, ice cream had to hit at least 10 percent milkfat, while ice milk ran well below that, which is why ice milk reads as the diet-friendly scoop.
Less fat changes the texture. Without all that cream coating the ice crystals, ice milk freezes harder and tastes a touch icier, more like a frozen chocolate milk than a rich custard.
How it eats and what to use instead
Treat it as a lighter scoop. It works wherever you want chocolate flavor and cold sweetness without the heaviness, in a cone, a float, or melting over a warm dessert.
That leaner profile makes it handy in trimmed-down treats, like this low cal Snickers pie.
The term itself is fading. Many products once labeled ice milk are now sold as low fat or reduced fat ice cream under updated labeling rules, so the names overlap on the shelf today.
If you cannot find chocolate ice milk, use a low fat chocolate ice cream, or plain chocolate ice cream for a richer result.
Going the other way, ice milk in place of full ice cream makes a lighter dessert that melts faster and turns icy if it sits, so serve it cold and soon.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 巧克力冰牛奶
- British (UK) term
- Chocolate ice milk
- en français
- chocolat au lait de glace
- en español
- helado de leche de chocolate
Recipes using chocolate ice milk
There are 2 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Low-Cal Snickers Pie
Low-calorie frozen Snickers pie with sugar-free chocolate pudding, crunchy peanut butter, chocolate ice milk, and Grape-Nuts for crunch. No-bake and crustless.
Low Cal Snickers Pie
Low calorie Snickers pie is a no-bake frozen dessert with chocolate ice milk, sugar-free chocolate pudding, crunchy peanut butter, Cool Whip, and Grape-Nuts for that candy bar crunch. Five ingredients, no oven, ready after freezing.
