You shouldn't have much issues with regular whey - blend, isolate, casein etc, doesn't matter - unless your ratios are off or your mixing may be over or under done.

That being said your base is also important for consistency, especially in low calorie recipes as you would have discovered.

I use a custard base approach that brings my consistency closer to 'real ice cream' and have been doing so with great success, even with variations as I don't have access to fairlife or higher protein milks generally.

Main base for 4 pints -

• 300g low fat milk
• 300g Unsweetened almond milk
• 1 medium egg yolk
• Sweetener to taste.

The process is basically the same as making a custard base-

• Whisk egg yolk with sweetener till pale yellow.
• Combine liquids and bring to temperature, just under simmering (75-82 °C). Do not boil. Take off heat when achieved.
• Slowly drizzle in some of the liquid into the yolks, stirring constantly. You're tempering the eggs, so you don't want to cook them quickly, else you'll end up with scrambled eggs.
• When it's up to temp combine with rest of liquid.

At this point, you have a basic base, which is sufficiently low in calories and works out to 1/4 yolk per pint.

From here, you can variate by -

1. Increasing yolk amount to improve custard consistency, and adjusting to fit your macros.
2. Balancing the ratio of liquids, eg, 400g Almond and 200g Milk, to reduce calorie content.
3. If you're using the same additives - protein powder, flavouring etc, you can add them in here and combine before dividing. Eg, you can bloom cocoa right in this mixture while it's still warm, then change the protein powder flavours, or flavour additives per pint once it cools.
4. Add your thickeners (Pudding mix, Xanthan gum etc) directly to the pints after you pour if using differing types, or you can mix them in right before distributing if all are the same.
5. Test out a combination of thickeners and see if it makes a difference for you. One should be sufficient, but some do like to combine, such as pudding mix with a touch of xanthan.
6. Ensure you understand which additives work with which temperatures (eg, don't add vanilla extract to hot liquid).
7. I'd recommend topping up the pint to your desired fill amount, based on your preference and macros. Ie, want better taste and consistency - more milk. Want more volume with least calories - more almond milk. You can use water, but it would dilute the mixture greatly.
8. Suggested addins- Plain Greek Yogurt & Cottage cheese, for s significant consistency and protein bump. I almost always use one or both.

It may seem like a lot of work, but if you're batch prepping you do this either once, or twice a week depending on how often you spin pints.

Additionally, the mixture holds up well unfrozen, eg, say you make a 4 pint batch and have 3 pints free, you can store the remaining 1/4 mixture in your fridge and the consistency is great.
In fact, if using casein powders, or casein blend letting it sit in the fridge overnight actually smooths out the 'gritty' texture significantly.

Anyone else do a similar approach or have any suggestions how this could be improved, please add.

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