Pacojet Competitor? The Ninja Creami

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I has 1 cup sugar for 3 cups of raspberries.  Do you think that's too much?  I also added some Chambord, although not a lot.  Today it was a harder and perfectly scoopable.

 

How sweet did it taste?  Less sugar would make it harder.

 

 

[ElsieD]

55 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

How sweet did it taste?  Less sugar would make it harder.

 

 

 

I thought it was just right.  John thought it could use a bit less sugar.  Maybe try 3/4 cup next time?

[mgaretz]

The other day I made another attempt at chocolate.  I upped the amount of glycerin to 2 tbs in an effort to keep it scoopable.  That worked.  I gave it one initial spin on Lite Ice Cream  It came out a bit icy, but not too bad.  I did not respin it, so that may help next time or possibly a different cycle as it was pretty loose after the first spin.

 

I also tried a can of "no sugar added" cherry pie filling, adding only a tbs of glycerin and a tbs of almond extract.  It was Ok but not nearly as good as first attempt with full sugar pie filling.  It may be because of the reduced sugar or the fact that it was Great Value (Walmart house brand).  I have a can of their full sugar filling so I will try that next.

[ElsieD]

Has anyone tried doing something with eggnog?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Has anyone tried doing something with eggnog?

 

No, but I suspect store-bought eggnog would work OK.

 

[blue_dolphin]

38 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Has anyone tried doing something with eggnog?

 

33 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

No, but I suspect store-bought eggnog would work OK.

 

 

I'm heading to TJ's in a bit and have eggnog on my list for exactly this purpose. 

Last year, I made some of Jeffery Morganthaler's eggnog with añejo tequila and amontillado sherry and liked it a lot. If I get around to making any of that, I'll give some a spin.  He's got a non-alcoholic eggnog recipe up on his blog this year for those who choose not to imbibe.

[&roid]

First go with the new toy… I love this thing!

 

I went for the dark chocolate sorbet from the ninja recipe book - largely because I had all the ingredients and it takes five minutes to make. 
 

super simple: dissolve sugar and cocoa powder in water, bring to simmer and pour over chopped up chocolate (valrhona guanaja). Whisk to melt and the cool and freeze for 24h. 
 

I didn’t check temps of the mix but my freezer is set to -22°C. 
 

The creami is super easy to set up, no more than five minutes from box to countertop. It’s not as big as I thought it would be either, it fits nicely under the  cabinets in my utility room. 
 

I span the mix on sorbet setting, there’s a bit of noise from the ninja but not as loud as a vitamix on full tilt. 
 

fiest run left the sorbet a little crumbly so I did a quick re-spin. 
 

Wow! This is beautiful! Amazing texture, really dense and super super smooth. I cannot wait to try some more recipes but I think this device will be a game changer for me. 

[andrewk512]

Back to the enjoyable basics after a few too many weird experiments

 

Can of alphonso mango puree (22 percent sugar by weight) - pour and freeze

 

 

[ElsieD]

This is eggnog, with added nutmeg and cinnamon.  I added halved mini Rolos as a mix-in.  The eggnog I used was a house brand from a local grocery chain.  The content and nutrition values were not listed so I don't know what the fat content was.  John liked it, I'm on the fence.  I thought it was a bit icy and since I have some eggnog left, I'll make up another batch but add some whipping cream and see if that helps.  It may be that a respin might have solved the icy problem but I didn't want to do that as the Rolos had already been mixed in.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Vanilla.

 

 

 

Peanut butter.

 

The vanilla was good.  Peanut butter perhaps the best ice cream I have made.

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/152508-home-made-ice-cream-2015–/?do=findComment&comment=2321762

 

[blue_dolphin]

Goat cheese ice cream from Hello, My Name is Ice Cream with toasted walnuts and buckwheat honey, a topping that David Lebovitz recommends for the goat cheese ice cream in A Perfect Scoop. 

My plan was to test some different swirl-ins, settle on one and mix it in by hand.  My candidates:

Fig butter - very good but I'm concerned the seediness will detract from the creamy ice cream and make it seem grainy. 

Drunken raisins with port from Zuni Cafe Cookbook - not a bad combo but I don't think I want cold raisin bits swirled in.  I will try warming and reducing some of this and pouring over top instead.

Spiced prunes from Zuni Café Cookbook - not bad but they are vinegar-y and compete with the tangy goat cheese flavor.  Interesting combo though.

Pickled cranberries - same as above, not bad but the goat cheese gets lost.  I will make up a little cranberry sauce to try. 

Only problem.....after all that testing, there's not a ton left 🙃

 

 

[mgaretz]

Made another batch of peanut butter salted caramel.  This time I spun it on the Gelato setting and it came out lovely.  Here it is after spinning, with a small spoonful off the top.

 

[ElsieD]

On 12/3/2021 at 6:39 PM, andrewk512 said:

Back to the enjoyable basics after a few too many weird experiments

 

Can of alphonso mango puree (22 percent sugar by weight) - pour and freeze

 

 

 

How did this turn out?

[&roid]

First recipe from hello, I’m trying the chocolate frozen yoghurt. 

it’s currently sitting in the freezer overnight so I’ll report back on the finished product tomorrow, but the unfrozen base tastes great. 
 

I did find the mix became very stiff as it cooled - no chance of getting it through a fine seive though, it would have taken a month!

 

[ElsieD]

11 minutes ago, &roid said:

First recipe from hello, I’m trying the chocolate frozen yoghurt. 

it’s currently sitting in the freezer overnight so I’ll report back on the finished product tomorrow, but the unfrozen base tastes great. 
 

I did find the mix became very stiff as it cooled - no chance of getting it through a fine seive though, it would have taken a month!

 

 

Recipe?

[blue_dolphin]

6 minutes ago, &roid said:

First recipe from hello, I’m trying the chocolate frozen yoghurt. 

 

 

I'll be interested to hear what you think.  I wasn't sure about that combo of chocolate with tangy yogurt.  Also didn't have any milk chocolate on hand.  

[&roid]

39 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Recipe?

200g milk chocolate

300g Greek yoghurt 

150ml milk

150ml cream

5g salt

3g stabiliser

150g sugar

50g glucose 

 

I guess the stabiliser amount might be open to interpretation given it isn’t for a specific brand or mix of ingredients. 
 

43 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I'll be interested to hear what you think.  I wasn't sure about that combo of chocolate with tangy yogurt.  Also didn't have any milk chocolate on hand.  

 

based on the unfrozen taste I’d say it was a winner - but then I am a bit of sucker for acid in my food

[andrewk512]

9 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

How did this turn out?

Softness and sweetness were spot on but had a very dense mouthfeel and this made it a bit undesirable beyond a few bites. Next time I would thin it out a bit with a 22 percent sugar syrup. 

 

I ended up blending the sorbet with milk to make smoothies

[&roid]

Update on the chocolate frozen yoghurt - A limited success:

 

The mix froze down well, nice and even and got down to -22C with 24 hours.

 

 

I processed this using the ice cream setting but had to stop it halfway through as the machine started to vibrate quite violently - has anyone had the before? A second go went through fine.

 

 

The finished product was pretty good, nice flavour with a good balance between the acid tang of the yoghurt and the rich chocolate/cream.  Texture was a little less good though - it was super, super smooth but was almost gummy in nature.  Not sure if this was due to the stabiliser?

 

 

It also melted very quickly - I think this might be due to having to process it twice and being too greedy/impatient to let it set up in the freezer for a while

[andrewk512]

34 minutes ago, &roid said:

Update on the chocolate frozen yoghurt - A limited success:

 

The mix froze down well, nice and even and got down to -22C with 24 hours.

 

 

 

I processed this using the ice cream setting but had to stop it halfway through as the machine started to vibrate quite violently - has anyone had the before? A second go went through fine.

 

 

 

The finished product was pretty good, nice flavour with a good balance between the acid tang of the yoghurt and the rich chocolate/cream.  Texture was a little less good though - it was super, super smooth but was almost gummy in nature.  Not sure if this was due to the stabiliser?

 

 

 

It also melted very quickly - I think this might be due to having to process it twice and being too greedy/impatient to let it set up in the freezer for a while

 

I've had mine vibrate to the point where I thought it might fall off the table a few times, I just kept going.

 

Her ice creams are quite dense like that, some like it, some don't. I think she details this further in either the beginning or end of the book (cultural and personal differences in ice cream texture).

 

If you are processing twice I would definitely let it sit in the freezer for an hour or two; should be fine if just processed once though

 

I should also note that if you are doing a half recipe you'll probably want to account for increased water loss through evaporation, depending on your pot size. I usually add a bit of water back to her recipes

Edited December 12, 2021 by andrewk512 (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Vibrating like that does not sound normal.

 

[ElsieD]

@&roid  I had a batch which I processed twice resulting in a very soft texture.  I stuck it back in the freezer and the next day it was perfectly scoopable, no iciness.  I did not use a stabilizer in that batch, so I don't know if my comment helps you or not.

[&roid]

22 hours ago, ElsieD said:

@&roid  I had a batch which I processed twice resulting in a very soft texture.  I stuck it back in the freezer and the next day it was perfectly scoopable, no iciness.  I did not use a stabilizer in that batch, so I don't know if my comment helps you or not.

 

I had a look at it again today and it was much better, the texture was much more pleasant and it was properly scoopable.  Possibly a little on the hard side this time given my freezer temp but I could always let it soften slightly I guess.  It remains completely smooth - almost supernaturally so!  I love this piece of kit

[yimyammer]

On 11/29/2021 at 9:57 PM, yimyammer said:

made Jenis Brown Butter Almond Praline and it was even better than store bought (because I can add more praline and almonds plus I sprinkled some Maldons seat salt on top to kick it up another notch)

 

 

This device could turn out to be dangerous (to my diet)

 

made another batch of Jeni's brown butter ice cream with butter baked slivered almonds & almond toffee on top. I went and bought a pint of it at the store to compare and while the recipe out of her book is damn good, there is a big difference in taste, almost like marzipan in the store bought and I cant figure out what it is, the label says it has tapioca syrup whereas the recipe in the book calls for white sugar and some corn syrup......
 

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 652x748.

my version is darker too, perhaps I was supposed to strain the caramelized milk solids or I cooked them too long
 

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 684x512.

 

any ideas what the difference could be?

Here's the recipe ingredients versus the label:

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, yimyammer said:

 

made another batch of Jeni's brown butter ice cream with butter baked slivered almonds & almond toffee on top. I went and bought a pint of it at the store to compare and while the recipe out of her book is damn good, there is a big difference in taste, almost like marzipan in the store bought and I cant figure out what it is, the label says it has tapioca syrup whereas the recipe in the book calls for white sugar and some corn syrup......
 

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 652x748.

my version is darker too, perhaps I was supposed to strain the caramelized milk solids or I cooked them too long
 

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 684x512.

 

any ideas what the difference could be?

Here's the recipe ingredients versus the label:

 

I see cream cheese.

 

Edit:  Jeni does not share her recipes.  She wrote an ice cream book about something vaguely reminiscent.  Dante would consign her to the circle of hell for frozen desserts.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)