I have run across recipes for "Dole Whip," which is the treat that is so expensive at Disney World. I might have to give that "a whirl."
My Creami machine is "out for delivery" and I have the container of eggnog in the freezer. Hopefully we'll be having eggnog ice cream for dessert tonight! I'm studying chocolate ice cream recipes and I think the next flavor will be chocolate. Or maybe vanilla. I am making "regular" ice creams, none of the protein powder or other mix-ins. So this will be a learning curve. I think my new immersion blender will come in handy for mixing fresh fruit into the ice cream liquid mixtures before I freeze them.
Awesome, @Beth Gallagher ! ! I am looking forward to how you like making your ice cream tonight. I think that one of the great things about the Ninja Creami is how versatile it is, and people can put as much effort or as little effort as they want into making their Creami desserts. I have seen some videos where people pretty much just add liquid protein drinks and maybe some SF pudding mix and then freeze it, and other recipes that seem pretty complicated (making the custard and cooking it, etc) and making actual ice cream in the Ninja. We always add more cream and do a respin, but the new models might not need that, and since we are just using either milk or yogurt and not an actual custard mix, we also use the light ice cream setting; but the machine has the capabilities to make almost any kind of frozen treat, like the frozen fruit popsicles that @Marie Mallery and @Jake Smith enjoy eating. We will probably be trying that, too, but not until next summer, for sure .
I am most interested in seeing how "creamy" the result will be. If it's too icy and not a smooth texture then I will probably return the machine. I don't like grainy ice cream.
If it does not look right, add a little (1/4 cup) cream and do a respin, and it will be smooth and creamy. Mine is always a little lumpy the first spin, so I add the cream and re-spin. You will get used to how much it takes to add in each time to make it smooth, but it might need a few tries, so do not give up right away. You can add more eggnog to the eggnog ice cream for the respin , instead of cream. Sometimes, i use the handle of the spoon and make a little tunnel for the cream to go all the way to the bottom so it blends in better.
My little container covers arrived yesterday, and they fit perfectly on the little containers, and i think that they should be perfect for the smaller size containers where we each have our own container. With the larger 24 oz size, you will probably be taking the ice cream out and putting it in serving dishes, so the covers would not be of any benefit for that size.
Well, the poor UPS guy just dropped off my Creami. Of course I'm too tired to mess with it tonight so I'll just dig the instruction book/recipes out and look at them. I'll have to test the eggnog ice cream tomorrow.
I am very intriqued with this Ninja Cremi you all are talking about. It sounds inviting and "oooh so delicious!" I am afraid of all the calories I would consume if it is as tastey as I think it would be---chocolate ice cream and all the other flavors. And Dole Whip!! Dear Lord help me! I don't think I would have any self control.
This is the great thing about the Ninja Creami, @Krystal Shay , is that you choose what goes in your ice cream. Many people who are on a diet like low carb or keto, or even just whole food are using the Ninja Creami to make an ice cream treat that fits in with their eating plan and is healthy. If you look at some of the YT videos, you can see that many people basically make a healthy smoothie and freeze it and the Ninja turns the smoothie into ice cream. You do not have to add sugar, cream, or any ingredients that are used in a traditional ice cream machine, although you can do this if you want to. You can use whatever you want for ingredients, from simple frozen fruits and juice, to extravagant ice creams made with all the heavy ingredients. What we like is that I can make a high protein smoothie, using foods like plain yogurt or kefir, cottage cheese, whey protein powder, and regular milk to make our ice cream. If i have a fruit flavor, it has real fruits like strawberries and bananas in it. The chocolate has raw cocoa and peanut butter powder and chocolate whey protein. The fruit ices and sherbets are made by freezing fruit and juice and then blended into creamy sherbet consistency by the ninja. We have not tried this yet, but will be making the frozen fruit ices next summer.
Hah. I thought I could resist until I watched a demo on QVC. And by the way... they still have the Creami and 4 containers on sale for $189. https://www.qvc.com/ninja-creami-de...-w-extra-pints.product.K98772.html?sc=NAVLIST I don't know if you have shopped from QVC, but they have a 30-day return policy no questions asked. So I'm trying my Creami and if I don't like it then I'll return it.
Well I have been a busy bee. I made three batches of ice cream mixtures to put in the freezer... vanilla bean, chocolate and fresh strawberry. My immersion blender came in really handy to mush the fresh berries. So we will have 4 kinds of ice creams to try in the next few days, starting with the eggnog this evening. All of these are full-fat, made with sugar and heavy cream. So I will have to watch my portions!!
Full fat. Heavy cream. Sugar. Yum! That is what dreams are made of in the ice cream world! How's that vitamix immersion blender working out? I have it saved in my cart as I continue to browse for other things.
I am in love with the Vitamix immersion blender. It's really easy to use; so smooth and powerful. I can't believe what a difference from my old Mueller. I bought the "kit" with the storage case and the mixer attachment, and I didn't particularly want either of those. It was one of those deals where the "kit" was cheaper than buying the blender by itself so what's a person to do??
OK, the first Creami experiment is complete and it was a success! The texture of the ice cream is perfect; a smooth and creamy soft serve but still firm enough to be scooped. Not grainy at all. I ran the frozen eggnog through one "spin" and it was a bit crumbly so I added a splash of cream and ran a "respin" which turned out perfect. The 24 oz container is a LOT of ice cream. We ate about half of it and I put the leftovers back in the freezer for another day. Looking forward to trying one of the recipes that I made today to see if they turn out with the same creamy texture. So we'll try one of those tomorrow.
We had chocolate ice cream tonight. It was pretty good but can be improved so I will have to test out some smaller batches. I found the heavy cream to be overwhelming, leaving a kind of greasy "mouth-feel". My husband said he didn't notice that and he thought it was good. Next batch will have a different milk-to-cream ratio or I will switch to half and half. I'd also like to find some dutch cocoa, or at least a better quality chocolate. So on to the next!