Pacojet Competitor? The Ninja Creami

[mgaretz]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

 

 

What is that third ingredient?  

[Smithy]

5 hours ago, mgaretz said:

 

What is that third ingredient?  

 

Half and half.

[mgaretz]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Half and half.

Thought that must be it but it reads like nus g nus.

Edited October 28, 2021 by mgaretz (log)

[mgaretz]

Had some more of the latest batch and it remains excellent.  

[mgaretz]

FYI, Sam's Club is putting the Creami (standard model with all the cycles and three containers) on sale on 11-29 and 11-30 for $129.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

FYI, Sam's Club is putting the Creami (standard model with all the cycles and three containers) on sale on 11-29 and 11-30 for $129.

 

But do they have blue?

 

[yimyammer]

On 8/27/2021 at 8:20 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

The effect is I do not buy Jeni's.

 

 

wow, you're missing out, I'm not even a big fan of ice cream but Jeni's is off the charts imo and I've eaten several gallons since discovering it (to the dismay of may diet )

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, yimyammer said:

 

wow, you're missing out, I'm not even a big fan of ice cream but Jeni's is off the charts imo and I've eaten several gallons since discovering it (to the dismay of may diet )

 

I prefer custard based ice cream.

 

[ElsieD]

27 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I prefer custard based ice cream.

 

 

Me too.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

After trying a few different concoctions, my best is still:

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/163060-new-pacojet-competitor-the-ninja-creami/?do=findComment&comment=2315710

 

 

Nik Sharma's blueberry Omani lime is a respectful second, but there is no contest when it comes to texture.  And the strawberry does not taste like cream cheese.

 

These are the only two Ninja experiments so far that I would call good.

 

 

[yimyammer]

On 10/29/2021 at 11:56 PM, mgaretz said:

FYI, Sam's Club is putting the Creami (standard model with all the cycles and three containers) on sale on 11-29 and 11-30 for $129.

 

already sold out, list price is now 169 too

[Honkman]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

8 hours ago, yimyammer said:

 

wow, you're missing out, I'm not even a big fan of ice cream but Jeni's is off the charts imo and I've eaten several gallons since discovering it (to the dismay of may diet )

 

I prefer custard based ice cream.

 

 

 

Jeni’s ice cream have often a very custard based ice cream like consistency (and you don’t taste any of the cream cheese). I am quite sure if we would do a blind tasting you would have problems to distinguish between Jeni’s and custard based ice creams

[blue_dolphin]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

These are the only two Ninja experiments so far that I would call good.

 

How many different recipes have you tried in the Ninja and have deemed less than good?

 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to ice cream.  My Ninja experiences:

Limoncello ice cream from the Ninja booklet - this seemed OK at first but after a re-spin, I got those micro-butter bits.  Lesson learned. 

 

The others have all been quite satisfactory:

Peach ice cream from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop

White peach sorbet from Momofuku Milk Bar

Pumpkin vanilla chai ice cream from a recipe on Food52 that was described as using a Jeni's base

Cinnamon ice cream from Sunday Suppers at Lucques

Earl Grey Ice Cream from Van Leeuwen Artisian Ice Cream Book (this flavor recommended upthread by @chefmd)

[yimyammer]

Thanks for all the great, informative posts everyone.  

 

I need to spend more time here (or perhaps I don't as I want to buy all the gadgets I read about), another thread here convinced me to make the plunge on a Control Freak and because of this thread I am considering a Creami as well.  A couple of questions if y'all don't mind:

 

* Has anyone determined the fastest a freezer set at approximately -6F to -7F can freeze a recipe so it can be spun into ice cream?

* Looks like you can't add anything chunky like nuts, toffee chunks, pie crusts, etc, etc because the ninja will pulverize them so they'd have to be stirred in after the ice cream is created, is that right?

 

Thanks!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

How many different recipes have you tried in the Ninja and have deemed less than good?

 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to ice cream.  My Ninja experiences:

Limoncello ice cream from the Ninja booklet - this seemed OK at first but after a re-spin, I got those micro-butter bits.  Lesson learned. 

 

The others have all been quite satisfactory:

Peach ice cream from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop

White peach sorbet from Momofuku Milk Bar

Pumpkin vanilla chai ice cream from a recipe on Food52 that was described as using a Jeni's base

Cinnamon ice cream from Sunday Suppers at Lucques

Earl Grey Ice Cream from Van Leeuwen Artisian Ice Cream Book (this flavor recommended upthread by @chefmd)

 

The two that I deemed less than good were the Food 52 orange sherbet that Kerry linked and strawberry from the Ninja recipe booklet.

 

What I want to try next is either Rose's chocolate or my more or less standard vanilla from the homemade ice cream thread.

 

[andrewk512]

3 hours ago, yimyammer said:

Thanks for all the great, informative posts everyone.  

 

I need to spend more time here (or perhaps I don't as I want to buy all the gadgets I read about), another thread here convinced me to make the plunge on a Control Freak and because of this thread I am considering a Creami as well.  A couple of questions if y'all don't mind:

 

* Has anyone determined the fastest a freezer set at approximately -6F to -7F can freeze a recipe so it can be spun into ice cream?

* Looks like you can't add anything chunky like nuts, toffee chunks, pie crusts, etc, etc because the ninja will pulverize them so they'd have to be stirred in after the ice cream is created, is that right?

 

Thanks! 

 

Heavily freezer dependent - my fridge freezer is at -18C and takes anywhere from 24-36 hrs to freeze the ice creams to -18C whereas my deep freezer is at -28C and can freeze the bases to -24C over around 6 hrs. I haven't added any chunks but there is a mix-in function which I believe does pulverize a bit but has a goal to leave things relatively intact. I don't have a control freak but I think you will love it for making ice creams if you get a creami. It would be great to program the dispersion and pasteurization temps and then you can also hold at 162f for 25mins to optimize the texture -( http://icecreamscience.com/section-1/ )

 

 

 

 

Had a lot of leftover mascarpone so I made this mascarpone ice cream today from Migoya's Frozen Desserts - perfect texture processed on lite. Served with a bit of candied fennel and passionfruit.

 

Also working on adding maltodextrin to juice-like liquids for sorbets. In my previous watermelon post I used 5% maltodextrin which worked very well. Yesterday with pomegranate juice I used 11% maltodextrin to get the necessary solids content. Absolutely disgusting back of the mouth chalk-like flavor, but had the most perfect ice cream like texture. Doing some more reading maltodextrin can be used in high percentages in ice creams to replace portions of cream without discernible notice, but I wonder if this is less apparent due to the heavier flavor of ice cream. The Underbelly blog suggests no more than 20% of all sugar should be maltodextrin, so I made another recipe that cuts the maltodextrin in half and gets the solids content from rebalancing the other sugars and increasing atomized glucose. I will try it out in a week or so when I get more pomegranate juice.  Ideally this will be used to create a framework that could turn any thin liquid into a cream like frozen dessert with no dairy

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by andrewk512 (log)

[blue_dolphin]

8 minutes ago, andrewk512 said:

Ideally this will be used to create a framework that could turn any thin liquid into a cream like frozen dessert with no dairy

Please continue to report your findings. I’ve got a quart of lychee nectar that I’d like to play with. 
According to the label, it's 23% lychee pulp and has added sugar and pectin.  Maybe I’ll just freeze some as is and see what happens. 

[yimyammer]

2 hours ago, andrewk512 said:

 

Heavily freezer dependent - my fridge freezer is at -18C and takes anywhere from 24-36 hrs to freeze the ice creams to -18C whereas my deep freezer is at -28C and can freeze the bases to -24C over around 6 hrs. I haven't added any chunks but there is a mix-in function which I believe does pulverize a bit but has a goal to leave things relatively intact. I don't have a control freak but I think you will love it for making ice creams if you get a creami. It would be great to program the dispersion and pasteurization temps and then you can also hold at 162f for 25mins to optimize the texture -( http://icecreamscience.com/section-1/ )

 

 

 

 

Had a lot of leftover mascarpone so I made this mascarpone ice cream today from Migoya's Frozen Desserts - perfect texture processed on lite. Served with a bit of candied fennel and passionfruit.

 

Also working on adding maltodextrin to juice-like liquids for sorbets. In my previous watermelon post I used 5% maltodextrin which worked very well. Yesterday with pomegranate juice I used 11% maltodextrin to get the necessary solids content. Absolutely disgusting back of the mouth chalk-like flavor, but had the most perfect ice cream like texture. Doing some more reading maltodextrin can be used in high percentages in ice creams to replace portions of cream without discernible notice, but I wonder if this is less apparent due to the heavier flavor of ice cream. The Underbelly blog suggests no more than 20% of all sugar should be maltodextrin, so I made another recipe that cuts the maltodextrin in half and gets the solids content from rebalancing the other sugars and increasing atomized glucose. I will try it out in a week or so when I get more pomegranate juice.  Ideally this will be used to create a framework that could turn any thin liquid into a cream like frozen dessert with no dairy

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the excellent reply!  I covet a blast chiller but they seem incredibly expensive, Ninja needs to create a low cost Ninja Chiller™ to pair with its Creami

 

I haven't been here long but every post I've seen of your work has been gorgeous, the above is no exception.

[yimyammer]

6 hours ago, yimyammer said:

* Looks like you can't add anything chunky like nuts, toffee chunks, pie crusts, etc, etc because the ninja will pulverize them so they'd have to be stirred in after the ice cream is created, is that right?

 

 

I'm going to answer my own question by attaching this video about the "Mix-in" setting:

 

 

anyone tried this?

Edited October 31, 2021 by yimyammer (log)

[Kerry Beal]

4 minutes ago, yimyammer said:

 

I'm going to answer my own question by attaching this video about the "Mix-in" setting:

 

 

anyone tried this?

Yup - mixed in rum soaked raisins. I think the blade must turn backwards for this. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, yimyammer said:

 

Thanks for the excellent reply!  I covet a blast chiller but they seem incredibly expensive, Ninja needs to create a low cost Ninja Chiller™ to pair with its Creami

 

I haven't been here long but every post I've seen of your work has been gorgeous, the above is no exception.

 

I paid not much more than $600 for my Vesta blast freezer on sale.

 

[yimyammer]

31 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I paid not much more than $600 for my Vesta blast freezer on sale.

 

 

wow, thats good to hear, all the ones I saw were like $4K and up.

 

How do you like the Vesta?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 minutes ago, yimyammer said:

 

wow, thats good to hear, all the ones I saw were like $4K and up.

 

How do you like the Vesta?

 

I love it and the Vesta customer service is top notch.

 

[ElsieD]

Just for a lark, I got some peaches our of the freezer, cut them up, put them in a pint jar, and added peach kefir to the fill line.  I figure the 

peaches will settle a bit and that will make a bit of room to add some whipping cream.  Any ides what button to push to spin it?

[mgaretz]

Ok, folks, near perfection at last (for a dairy-free, reduced sugar dessert)!  Same basic recipe as last time, just changed from the Lite Ice Cream to the Regular Ice Cream cycle.  Perfect texture right after spinning.  Only flaw is a slight bit of ice on the sides.  Here is the recipe:

 

Base:

12 ozs plain unsweetened almond milk

60 grams of sugar

60 grams of Whole Earth erythritol/monk fruit blend

22 grams of coconut oil powder (80% fat)

1.5 tsp of stabilizer blend (2 parts carboxy methyl cellulose, 1 part guar gum, 1 part lambda carrageenan)

1 tbs vegetable glycerin

 

Flavoring:

1/4 cup peanut butter powder

1 tbs Torani Classic Caramel syrup

1/2 tsp sea salt (table grind)

 

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl (primarily to disperse the stabilizer to keep it from clumping)

Add wet ingredients to a blender, followed by the dry

Blend on low speed until well mixed, about 45 seconds

Pour into pint container

Freeze for 24 hours

Process on Ice Cream cycle

Enjoy