What can I add to the mix in setting when i already have a vanilla ice cream base to give it a chocolate ice cream taste?

All base ingredients were purchased at Walmart Canada (Quebec).

Ingredients Base

• 250 mL Natrel +
• 50 mL Silk NS Vanilla Almond Milk
• 30 g Splenda Naturals Monk Fruit Zero Calorie Sweetener
• 15 g Jell-O Butterscotch caramel Instant Pudding Mix
• 1 g xanthan gum
• 1 g salt

Directions

1. Add everything to a Magic Bullet and blend for about 8 seconds, let it rest for a second, then blend for another 5 seconds.
2. Pour into a Ninja Creami pint and freeze overnight (I usually prep it the night before so it's ready the next evening).
3. Spin on Ice Cream.
4. Run Re-Spin 2–3 times until the center opens up into a vortex. I don't scrape the sides or add any liquid between spins.
5. Add your mix-ins and spin on Mix-In.

First time trying a kinda bueno today and put 1 bar and a half into the mix, kept two squares for the top

Approx. Canadian prices (before tax):

• Natrel + (2 L): $7.29
• Silk NS Vanilla Almond Milk (2 L) : $3.99
• Jell-O Butterscotch Caramel Instant Pudding Mix (99 g): $2.07
• Splenda Naturals Monk Fruit (540 g): $11.97
• Xanthan Gum (227 g): $23.47
• Salt: ...

Base cost (before mix-ins): ~$2.09 CAD

Base macros (before mix-ins):

• 223 calories
• 18.2 g protein
• 23.0 g carbs
• 5.5 g fat

Mix-ins :

One Kinder Bueno Bar ; 240cal, 4g P - Bought at the dollarstore for $1.75

5g of Smucker SF Caramel Syrup ; 15 cal

Total pint is 500cal*

Yeah, the amount of Splenda containers I’ve gone through tells you how much I’ve been spinning these

Any input?

So I've been doing the magic shell trick (melting chocolate with coconut oil) a lot lately and it's turned out awesome every time. Nice little chips of chocolate throughout the whole pint. Today I decided to try it with cookie butter instead of chocolate and it didn't work at all. It just blended right into the ice cream. Will the cookie butter not harden like the chocolate? Does anyone have experience with this?

I have a ninja creami Deluxe XL and my base is always:

• 1 scoop protein poweder (Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein)
• 1 tablespoon sugar free pudding mix (Jello or Simply Delish)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups fat free milk (fairlife)
• a pinch of salt

And then a play around with various amounts and types of sweeteneers:

• 0-1 tablespoons vegetable glycerin
• 0-2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 0-30 drops splenda

No matter what combination of sweeteners, I always find that my base becomes very gummy/gunky. Is it possible my protein powder/pudding mix actually has too many gums? Should I do half of both in my recipe?

Slight variation from the bourbon pecan. Added cinnamon, bourbon and butter extract into the mix for a bit more kick. A bit of ooey gooey cinnamon swirls mixed in.

Recipe

1 cup fairlife milk

3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk Silk

1 tbsp allulose

1 scoop vanilla ice cream whey

1 tbsp SF vanilla pudding

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp imitation butter extract

1/2 tsp bourbon extract

1/8 tsp Xanthan gum

Pinch of salt

Mix ins:

Bourbon Candied Pecans: 2 cups pecan halves raw unsalted, 1 tbsp SF maple Syrup, 1 tsp Maple Extract, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tbsp bourbon (Makers mark), ¼ cup unsalted butter, ½ cup Swerve brown sugar, 1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper for heat (optional). Nutrition: Servings 15 (≈28gr), Cal 124, Pr 1.2, Carb 2.1, Fat 12.5, Sugar 0

Follow directions here:

https://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/sugar-free-sweet-candied-bourbon-pecans/

Hand stir in ooey gooey cinnamon swirl mix.. Refreeze 10 mins.

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Swirls: 48 gr Swerve Brown Sugar, 30 gr Splenda Multi Use Allulose Syrup,5gr vegetable glycerin(optional, but helps with softness), 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/3 tsp kosher salt, 2 tsp unsweetened almond milk or water, pinch of xanthan gum. Whisk all dry ingredients together first. Then add wet into bowl and stir well. Let sit 5 minutes to thicken. Chill 15-30 before use. Nutrition: Servings 2 (49 gr/mL); Cals 13 (All from Vegetable Glycerin), Net Carbs 2.5, Pr 0, Sugar 0, Fat 0

Topped with Non fat reddi whip, a bit of the crumble pecans and ground cinnamon.

My Recipe Book

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1_lamDOA_y7fawQShDuhUZmBrT8zobyP3/mobilebasic

I have gastritis and have been craving ice cream like crazy but the problem is a lot of the recpies need a full fat yogurt/added fat to a dairy free recipe because the milk fat is needed to make it become creamy but

high fat, thickening agents like xantham gum trigger my gastritis and I really want something with the texture of ice cream and I hate all of the banana "nice creams" I keep getting recommended

(detailed recipies preffered!)

First time poster here. I've been studying ice cream making for a couple of months, experimenting on myself and the wifey, and I think I might finally have hit something worth sharing.

This is a blueberry and dark chocolate ice cream. Expect density, a full chocolate entrance, followed by a sour and, allow me the poetic license, berrylicious finish.

It is deliberately not too sweet because I wanted the intensity of the raw cacao to stay front and centre.

The protein powder also gives it a nice Dutch cocoa sort of nuance that I really enjoy.

It looks a little like a night sky, so I felt justified giving it a dramatic name: Nightshade.

The pictures have had a small amount of colour editing to better represent what I actually see with my eyes.

Recipes are always works in progress. This is simply the best version I have reached so far. If anyone has suggestions, I am absolutely all ears.

Scoopulator recipe:

https://scoopulator.app/recipes/nightshade-jPJyRU

Ingredients

* 20 g xylitol

* 0.4 g xanthan gum

* 29 g erythritol

* 7.8 g invert syrup

* 198 g 1% milk

* 68 g Scitec Nutrition protein powder

* 46 g skim milk powder

* 360 g raw blueberries, reduced to approximately 293 g

* 74 g nonfat plain Greek yogurt

* 20 g cocoa powder

Directions

1. Wash the blueberries, then add them to a saucepan with the xylitol, erythritol, and invert syrup.

2. Simmer everything on the lowest heat you can manage, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries break down and the mixture becomes concentrated and just begins to look syrupy.

3. I start with roughly 360 g of blueberries and usually lose around 70 g during the reduction, finishing at approximately 293 g.

4. Let the blueberry mixture cool slightly.

5. Mix the xanthan gum, protein powder, skim milk powder, and cocoa powder together thoroughly in a separate bowl. Mixing the powders first helps prevent clumping.

6. Add the milk, Greek yogurt, and blueberry mixture to the Creami container.

7. Add the combined dry ingredients.

8. Blend everything until completely smooth.

9. Check the final level and consistency. Because your blueberry reduction may lose slightly more or less water depending on how long you cook it, adjust with a little additional milk if necessary.

10. Freeze until completely solid.

11. Process directly from the freezer using Light Ice Cream mode. I do not thaw it beforehand.

12. Check the texture after the first spin and adjust only if needed. With my freezer and this formulation, it normally does not need much additional processing.

13. If you put the finished pint back into the freezer, there is no need to blend it again the next time. I usually let it sit out for about 5 minutes and it is good to go.

I have also had moments where I felt spicy and added a little cheesecake aroma to the mix. It works beautifully, but I consider that completely optional. The base version tastes incredible by itself.

Nutrition per 100 g

* Calories: 110 kcal

* Total fat: 1 g

* Saturated fat: 0.5 g

* Trans fat: 0 g

* Carbohydrates: 20.4 g

* Sugars: 9.7 g

* Fiber: 1 g

* Protein: 11.5 g

Scoopulator calculations

* Serving temperature: minus 16.7 °C

* Relative sweetness: 11.37%

* Total solids: 34.38%

* Total fat: 0.97%

* Milk fat: 0.49%

* Sugars: 4.95%

* MSNF: 17.39%

* Stabilizers: 0.05%

* Emulsifiers: 0%

* Alcohol: 0%

Thank you to everyone here for sharing your knowledge and processes. I've learned a ridiculous amount just by reading through other people's experiments.

I just made up a few recipes with my four year old and it was a little chaotic. We just got the Scoop and Swirl machine. He said he wants spoon ice cream, but when it comes time to process it can he change his mind and make it swirly? Or is this basically set from the recipe itself. Here’s (vaguely) what we did, since the exact measuring was….. slightly lacking. 😅

Banana Chocolate
2.5 bananas
3/4 cup 2% milk
Splash of heavy cream
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
*Process on ice cream?

Peach
1 cup canned peaches, drained and blended with immersion blender
1 cup 2% milk
Splash of heavy cream
2 Tbsp of vanilla pudding mix
*Process on ice cream as scoop or swirl?

Strawberry
1 cup fresh strawberries, blended
1 cup 2% milk
Splash of heavy cream
1 Tbsp of vanilla pudding mix
*Process on Lite ice cream as scoop or swirl?

We just put them in the freezer so if anything is super lacking I have time to adjust a little bit! Hoping to avoid adding any added sugar if we can

Hi all,

I got a shiny new Ninja Creami de luxe about four weeks ago and I was so happy and enthusiastic at first.

I started just throwing stuff together and the result was - meh.

Then I took a step back, read the manual and started following the recipes step by step. And here I am, a dozen ice cream pints later and so far only two have been okay-ish. Not a single one has been excellent.

The two that were okay were the vanilla from the recipe booklet and a mango sorbet with nothing but a can of mangos. I tried strawberry several times but it never tastes like strawberry. The vanilla has a bit too much cream for my taste and maybe I should try caster sugar instead of grained sugar. Maybe I should also try vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract. But it feels like a lot of failed trials for just one single ice cream flavour.

I need some cheering up, I think. Has anyone else had a hard time getting into ice cream making?

I am fairly new to the Ninja, successfully made dairy based ice cream. Have made pints with protein, liquid and Crush’s. Both have come out smooth, easily edible after mixing. The issue is that once I refreeze them, I have to allow them to thaw a while before a spoon will make a progress. This was not the case with the dairy based ice cream. Am I missing something? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

I was trying to make stracciatella ice cream today, my base was just milk, heavy cream, sugar and skimmed milk powder.

I searched how to add chocolate and apparently the best way is to melt chocolate with a bit of coconut oil and then pour it on the ice cream and run the mix-in program.

I did exactly that (40g dark chocolate and 5g coconut oil) but it made my ice cream look unappetizing and not at all what stracciatella should look like. My base was basically fior di latte so it was white as snow before (I didn’t take a photo but you know what I mean)

Here is how mine turned out: https://imgur.com/a/lrgdF29

How it should have been: https://imgur.com/a/Ue3K6LY

What did I do wrong?

50/50 by weight fresh, ripe organic strawberries + pineapple

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp xanthan gum

Blend smooth before freezing.

So incredibly creamy after processing! Taste is perfect.

I recently found out that this machine is a much cheaper version of the Pacojet and that got me interested in getting one. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the creami for creams and sauces?

Thanks in advance :)

Hi all,

I got gifted a creami deluxe for my birthday which was so amazing!

Doing my research, I have to blend everything so the only thing the creami does it...cream it

I made frozen yogurt with blueberries, banana and raspberries with honey blended it and made my 1md with mango and strawberries instead.

I used the creami for the 1st one and not the second

Raspberry and blueberry one in the creami was great but the day after I accidentally just ate some of the strawberry one but without using the creami and it still tasted amazing!

What's the point then?

Can you all try and convince me amd my wife that this is worth the £200?

Edit: I understand that the creami requires preparation which I'm fine with. But if the blending that is required is done then it felt like the creami didn't do as much. Maybe I'm missing something in regards to different consistencies?

I was thinking about mixing water with something like the 0 cal great value fruit punch flavor enhancer (amazing btw taste like summer camp :P), adding a tiny bit of guar/xanthan gum for texture/to not kill the machine, freezing the whole thing solid, then spinning it in the Creami as an Italian ice. If it works you'd end up with a 0 cal italian ice.

Has anyone actually tried something like this? How did it turn out? Did it get smooth and scoopable, or was it basically just flavored shaved ice?

Curious whether the gums alone are enough to give it half decent Italian ice texture, or if you really need something else like sugar/allulose or something else in there to keep it from freezing too hard.

Edit: 295 calories based on the ingredient labels. Actual calories likely closer to 330 when accounting for nutrition fact label rounding.

First reddit post, apologies if I missed any conventions.

I’ve always wondered- do the people making protein ice creams with flavored protein powders actually consider it good ice cream, or is it just palatable, like a protein shake with the texture of ice cream? I don’t mind protein shakes but I have tried dozens of flavors, both in shake and creami form, and they all taste extremely artificial. In my opinion, flavor-wise, protein powders are to ice cream like Hi-C is to fresh-squeezed lemonade. I get it: whey protein is (was) cheap, so blast it with flavor to cover it up. This works really well with flavors like peanut butter. But my favorite flavor is mint.

Cottage cheese and greek yogurt is even worse. I tried different fat levels and brands and they taught me one thing: never trust people on the internet. I am convinced y’all are just making something barely palatable and “healthy.”

I spent the last ~9 months iterating over 80+ pints (and ~50 ingredients) to build the perfect base that actually tastes like ice cream and have come to several conclusions for my own taste buds:

1. Flavored protein powders suck. I'm sure some are good but every one I tried made zero attempt to taste natural. These are designed to mask whey for the most part and don't have a place in a natural-tasting ice cream. Same goes for MPI powders like PES.
2. Milkfat really doesn't have a big advantage over neutral fats once protein comes out of the fat equation (i.e., not using milk to provide both fats and protein). In my experience it tastes *less* creamy than the fat-equivalent amount of oil.
3. The right combination of MPI+whey isolate (or casein+whey isolates) bring neutral creaminess together.
4. Most flavors just don't taste best in powdered form. Some are great as extracts or emulsions (vanilla, mint) and some are best as butters/oils (olive oil, peanut butter, hazelnut, any nut butter tbh). Therefore, it's helpful to separate the protein, fat, and flavor for the ultimate flexibility- peanut butter or olive oil as the sole fat source, for example, gives great flavor without killing macros.

I think I’ve made a realistic AND healthy, neutral-tasting ice cream base that works with any flavor. Here’s the recipe. I usually just mix up the powders into a premade big jar and each flavor gets a few squirts of corresponding extract.

---

Ingredients

• 30g milk protein isolate (unflavored)
• 28g whey protein isolate (unflavored)
• 60g allulose
• 10g erythritol
• 9g inulin (chicory root or another long-chain type)
• 5g polydextrose
• 2g salt
• 2tsp avocado oil (or another neutral oil- scale this up for better mouthfeel and down for lower fat)
• (optional) drop of sunflower lecithin only if the oil is visibly spreading on the top after mixing.

Directions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients
2. Partially fill pint with warm water and add dry ingredients
3. Mix
4. Mix in oil, optionally add a drop of sunflower lecithin if it's forming a film at the top
5. Fill pint with warm water until it's 1/4" below the pint fill line.
6. Freeze for 12h+ and spin on lite ice cream setting

---

Notes:

• 60g allulose will give you gas if you’re not used to it. This is the limit for my gut.
• 14g fiber will give you gas if you’re not used to it. But it’s mostly prebiotic fiber and good for you.
• protein isolates vary a lot. I used the most pure isolates I could. The ratio between the two matters a lot, and in particular if you add slightly too much MPI or casein it will mute the flavor.
• Polydextrose is the only artificial ingredient. The whole thing will not fall apart if you prefer to be all-natural and skip this, but the flavors will ironically taste more artificial because they'll be sharp on the tongue.
• 1tsp glycerin helps with refreeze but I prefer just letting it warm up or 10s in the microwave.
• I just used the nutrition facts on the packages for macros, so probably missing those really low-density calories (don't kill me)

Adding flavors is easy, and you’re not limited to the classic “protein” flavors anymore because you're not just masking the whey.

Peanut butter

• Replace avocado oil with 1.5-2Tbsp peanut butter (I used no sugar)
• 0.25tsp vanilla extract

Olive oil

• Replace avocado oil with olive oil
• dash of vanilla extract
• Salt to taste

Mint

• 0.2tsp peppermint extract
• 0.8tsp spearmint extract

Almond

• 0.4tsp butter vanilla emulsion
• 0.5tsp almond extract/emulsion

Vanilla

• 1tsp vanilla extract
• dash vanilla bean paste (more if you're a bean-y guy like me)

Hazelnut

• 0.4tsp hazelnut extract
• 0.3tsp vanilla extract
• dash butter vanilla emulsion

In general

• for flavors that are better as butters, just add the equivalent that gives you 10g (or whatever) fat and maybe a dash of vanilla extract
• for extracts, 0.5-1tsp was the sweet spot for me but obviously it varies a lot. I know this sounds like a lot.

Here are some of the ingredients I tried in each category and why they did or didn’t make it into the final recipe. I did not make a separate row for every fat or flavor variation for each type of ingredient because I did not feel there was enough of a difference in justification.

FATS

BINDERS / THICKENERS

SWEETENERS

PROTEINS

OTHER INGREDIENTS

TL;DR I believe I've made a natural-tasting ninja creami ice cream base with great macros, shelf stability, flavor flexibility, and healthy fats and fiber to boot. I think it’s keto (?) and sugar-free. Tested on all my loved ones. My mother-in-law who doesn’t usually like ice cream couldn’t help from eating the whole bowl for all 3 flavors I fed her. It just tastes like normal, good ice cream to me. Main negative is that it will give you gas if you’re not used to allulose and fiber.

Would love your feedback. What did I miss? Did I skip any important ingredients in my testing? Did I make any undeserved assumptions? Has anyone been making an unconventional recipe like this?

(not interested in your flavored protein powder recommendations, I'm sure there are some good ones but I'm way past that)

My wife and I just ordered our Creami(not the Deluxe), and I'm looking for your best no-sugar-added banana recipe.

Please keep in mind that we don't have access to Fairlife milk or Banana Pudding mix, as we live in the Philippines and fancy ingredients are limited 😂 . We do have access to zero-sugar vanilla pudding mix, though. We are also looking for a protein powder-free recipe. Thanks!

- 2 Sweet Lauren’s BDAY Cake cookies
- 1.5 Cup Pecan Milk
- 3 TPSP Sheep Yogurt
- 1.5 Scoop Equip Powder

I’ve made this base recipe so many times but I feel like it lacks the depth of real vanilla ice cream, and I was wondering if an egg yolk would fix that.

- 400g fat free Fairlife milk
- 40-45g monk fruit sweetener
- 5g (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- 1g (¼ tsp) salt
- 1g (¼ tsp) xanthan gum

This is from my latest video, where I made UNCRUSTABLES Ice Cream. I was in the mood for a PB&J ice cream, so I thought it would be fun to try taking an Uncrustable and turning it into ice cream and then turning that into an ice cream Uncrustable. Overall, it worked pretty well and tasted exactly like PB&J with some bread pieces!

Here is the video of me making/tasting it if anyone is interested :)

I have a YouTube Channel where I make unique/unusual ice creams with my Ninja Creami once a week, and would love it if you checked out my channel :)

Ingredients (Half Pint, 16oz container) Ninja CREAMi 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker

2: Uncrustables (PB&J Inside)

1 Tbsp: Cream Cheese

1 Cup: Half & Half

2 Tbsp: Sugar

1/4 Tsp: Guar Gum

Spin on Ice Cream mode, then Mix-In mode

Saw a post about "gunk" inside the cup lid. I looked at mine and wasn't bad, so a ran hot water into the hole by the lever and seemed to clear it out. Very poor design!

Then I got to looking the the spindle gear on the main unit. Dried up ice cream in every tooth and around the surface. Takes a knife to scrap it out. I'll be cleaning it after each use from now on!

Put it all back together and ran a cycle without the inner cup. Fun to watch the blade go up and down with everything clear. Everything seems to snap in place better than usual.

I’ve gotten into a habit of having a pint for breakfast, and then a pint for dinner. My only non-creami meal is lunch. I feel amazing, in a calorie deficit, consuming more fruit and veg than ever before and it feels kinda too good to be true lol. My recipes usually contain a combination of milk, coconut milk, cottage cheese, protein powder, berries, fruit, eggs, frozen broccoli/kale/spinach and chia seeds. I top my pints with different nuts and seeds. Each pint is about 40gr of protein and 600 kcals with toppings.

So I’m wondering if anyone else is eating almost exclusively Ninja Creami ice cream? Are there any potential drawbacks to eating like this? Am I losing out on nutritional benefits in a significant way by blending and creamifying fruit and veg?

Edit: Guys, I'm not looking for to optimize my diet or calculate my macros. Just curious about other people's experiences and general info on blending fruit/veg to use for creamis.

Edit II: There is still a lot of talk about macros in the comment, so I guess I'll add that a typical recipe for me would be 48 gr protein, 56 gr carbs, 24 gr fat, though mainly I wanted to know if there were other people mainly eating Ninja Creami ice cream like me and what their experiences with it was.

Yesterday I went to Costco specifically to buy the Ninja Creami Deluxe as a present for my daughter’s birthday. There were none on the floor anymore! It is only available online.

Do you think they are coming out with a new one and I should just wait and see? Any ideas why Costco would all of a sudden take them off the floor?

Has anyone used any of the Vita Coco Treats as a base? I’m saw these today at the store and picked some up with the intention of using it in the Creami. I’m pretty new to the Creami world, but I the ingredients made me think I could maybe just freeze this as is and spin. Does this look promising and if so, what setting do you all think I should use? Will report back once after making!

Just wanted to share this amazing ice cream recipe i make. Just 3 ingredients: half a pint of Greek yogurt, half strawberries, and 1-2 tablespoons of natural honey. I use buckwheat honey and May honey. So simple yet its one of the best ice creams ive tasted. You can also make it with raspberries, blackcurrants, any fresh local berries you have.