Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Holidays
  • Cooking 101
  • Healthy Living
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More Next
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More Next
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More Next
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    • New Year, New You
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentines
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

CookingLight diet CookingLight diet
  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Eating Smart Chevron Right
  3. The Best Light Scoops of Summer

The Best Light Scoops of Summer

By Maureen Callahan
July 06, 2010
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Photo: Colleen Duffley
These cool and creamy light desserts win our vote for summer's best store-bought ice creams, frozen yogurts, and sorbet.
Start Slideshow

1 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Summer's Best Frozen Desserts

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
By law, a "light" scoop must sport half the fat or one-third less calories than its full fat counterpart. But "light" is a relative term since regular ice creams start out all across the board when it comes to fat and calories. So we set parameters for the kind of frozen assets that make a "light" scoop skinny enough for a nightly summer treat. Taste testing included national brands (no local dairies) like Breyers, Edy's/Dreyer's, Haagen Daz, Ben & Jerry's, Healthy Choice, and Blue Bunny. In our book, taste and nutrition are both high priority, so not every brand made the final cut. Here are our top picks.

Our scoop stats per ½ cup: 150 calories; 5 grams fat (3 grams saturated) and no partially hydrogenated oils; less than 4 teaspoons (17g) sugar

 

1 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Light Vanilla: Breyers® Smooth & Dreamy™ ½ the Fat Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
Artificial vanilla flavors and strange aftertastes are all too common with many light vanillas, particularly budget brands. But time and again Breyers® proves a taste winner with its authentic vanilla flavor. Light on calories and fat, it's the perfect skinny scoop to crown fresh baked brownies or summer's best cherry pie.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 110 calories, 3.5g fat, 2g sat fat, 16g sugars

 

2 of 9

3 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Light Chocolate: Edy's/Dreyer's® Slow Churned® Rich & Creamy Chocolate Ice Cream

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
Craving chocolate? Edy's/Dreyer's® slow churn technology takes smaller amounts of fat and disperses them evenly to deliver a creamy chocolate hit in every bite. At 100 calories a scoop, there's plenty of room to add toasted chopped nuts or stir in a few mini chocolate chips and create your own healthier mix-ins, all without breaking the fat and calorie bank.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 100 calories, 3.5g fat, 2g sat fat, 13g sugars

 

3 of 9

Advertisement

4 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Light Frozen Yogurt: Blue Bunny® All Natural Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
Blue Bunny's® skinny all-natural blend of chocolate liquor, concentrated cherry juices, and cherry halves helps keep the lid on fat and calories while delivering healthy yogurt cultures. Also noteworthy: a short ingredient list minus all the freaky additives some light brands employ to keep scoops creamy. Look for the new 2-serving size Personals™ portion.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 120 calories, 3g fat, 1.5g sat fat, 17g sugars

 

4 of 9

5 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Sorbet: Whole Fruit® Mango Sorbet

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
This nifty tropical treat from Whole Fruit® hits your taste cylinders with an intense, but not too sweet, flavor. Close your eyes and it's almost like eating a fresh juicy mango complete with a quarter's day supply of vitamin A. Sugar numbers exceed our limit, but a big chunk of that is natural sugar since the main ingredient is mango puree. Runner up: Häagen Daz® Strawberry Sorbet.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 150 calories, 0g fat, 0g sat fat, 36g sugars

 

5 of 9

6 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Fat Free: Breyers® Smooth & Dreamy™ Fat Free Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
When first introduced, Breyers® Slow Churn Fat Free Ice Creams fooled tasters at Consumer Reports who couldn't believe they were sampling something fat free. To our taste, this ice cream (and the little brownie bits) sport a chewier fudgsicle-like texture that might turn off a diehard ice-cream purist. One downside: the laundry list of gums and additives it takes to create this fancy little faux fat treat.

For just 50 calories, serve your favorite scoop in one of these portion-controlled waffle bowls.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 110 calories, 0g fat, 0g sat fat, 15g sugars

6 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Premium Light: Ben & Jerry's® Half Baked® Fro Yo

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
McMansions of the ice cream world, premium scoops deliver more of everything—more fat, more calories, and more indulgent mix-ins. So trimming half the fat puts them on par with regular ice creams, not in our light scoop territory. This one from Ben & Jerry's® is almost an exception. Slashing 10 grams of fat from its popular "Half Baked" cookie dough flavor produces a slightly sweeter knock-off of the original. This is our pick for “worth-the-splurge” if premium, goodie-filled scoops are your thing. It's higher in calories and sugar than our benchmark, so go easy.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 200 calories, 3g fat, 1.5g sat fat, 24g sugars

 

7 of 9

8 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Best Regular Scoop That's Naturally Light: Breyers® All Natural Peach Ice Cream

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Prop Stylist: Mindi Shapiro; Food Stylist: Ana Kelly
Swirling chunks of sweet fresh peaches into a creamy regular ice cream is one way to capture some of the best flavors of summer. Turns out it also helps lighten the fat and calorie load just enough that this regular scoop from Breyers® easily meets our guidelines for light. All we can say is peachy keen.

Frozen assets per ½ cup: 120 calories, 4.5g fat, 3g sat fat, 16g sugars

 

8 of 9

9 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Ice Cream Buying Tips

Credit: Photo: Colleen Duffley
Lucky for us, ice cream producers tinkered with their formulas to create a slow churn process that distributes fat particles evenly throughout a scoop, making something that's light but tastes as creamy and delicious as something full fat. Looking for more flavor choices? Keep two things in mind. First, avoid treats made with heart-damaging trans fat, aka partially hydrogenated oils. And second, be mindful of calories; they do add up.

9 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Maureen Callahan

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 9 Summer's Best Frozen Desserts
2 of 9 Best Light Vanilla: Breyers® Smooth & Dreamy™ ½ the Fat Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream
3 of 9 Best Light Chocolate: Edy's/Dreyer's® Slow Churned® Rich & Creamy Chocolate Ice Cream
4 of 9 Best Light Frozen Yogurt: Blue Bunny® All Natural Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
5 of 9 Best Sorbet: Whole Fruit® Mango Sorbet
6 of 9 Best Fat Free: Breyers® Smooth & Dreamy™ Fat Free Chocolate Fudge Brownie
7 of 9 Best Premium Light: Ben & Jerry's® Half Baked® Fro Yo
8 of 9 Best Regular Scoop That's Naturally Light: Breyers® All Natural Peach Ice Cream
9 of 9 Ice Cream Buying Tips

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Cooking Light

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Cooking Light Diet this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Cooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

View image

The Best Light Scoops of Summer
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.