You scream, I scream...

[jeffshoaf]

Anybody have a Ninja Creami? I've been craving ice cream lately and have been eyeing these for a while, so I made the leap when I found an OK price:

https://www.ninjakitchen.com/ice-cream-makers/

And the pretty good deal:

https://www.hsn.com/products/ninja-creami-deluxe-11-in-1-xl-frozen-treat-maker-with-/20677795?sz=5&sf=QC0016&ac=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping engine&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Gshopping|BrandProduct|kitchen+food+kitchen+appliances&utm_content=147798559164_pla-1958140310773_20677796&pdp_exp=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiZqhBhCJARIsACHHEH-9qPmt6XmVv3Oizu3lWWaKSkctxfqoVviQ6S90XFiW135WZVvn_lwaAhkbEALw_wcB

Ninja is a bit confused on their definition of "pint" though...

[tony b]

No, I haven't seen one before. I have the basic Cuisinart ice cream maker. 

Frozen Yogurt - Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker - Cuisinart.com

You have to put the container in the freezer first for a few hours before making the ice cream and the ice cream is better if you put it in the freezer to firm up after it's churned by the machine. It works great and it's a third of the price of the Ninja (just sayin')!

[jeffshoaf]

@tony b, yours is doing more of a traditional churn than the Ninja. The Ninja is using a technology that's been available for professionals fit years - the patent ran out and Ninja jumped on it. It can do a wider variety of frozen deserts than the churners. Pretty much universal positive reviews (and not just Ninja fanatics). Here's an interesting video on the technology that compares the professional machine to the Ninja: 

 

[tony b]

To use the Ninja, you have to make and freeze the ice cream/sorbet base first for 24 hours! So, it's just a high-speed blender/drill press, in effect. You're just changing the texture of the ice cream. Plus, it sounds really loud! For $180, I guess I'm not seeing it?? I'll be curious to hear what folks who buy one think of it?

[jeffshoaf]

2 hours ago, tony b said:

 I'll be curious to hear what folks who buy one think of it?

I have yet to see a review that was negative on the results after the reviewer made several "pints" and read the manual (and I've looked at a lot). Chief complaints were the price and the 24 hour lead time. Of course, most frequent users go ahead and get extra containers so they can have several varieties of frozen stuff in the freezer for when they want some. There are also a bunch of Facebook groups dedicated to it, with several for low calorie and/or keto recipes. That seems to be a big chunk of the market - those looking for low- or no-calorie frozen treats and those avoiding dairy.

One good piece of advice I saw in a video is to get a wet erase marker to mark the "pints" with the contents so you don't lose track of what you have in the freezer.

[Bunji]

I have a few relatives who own this and they rave about it. I haven’t tried true ice cream from one, but I did sample some imitation Dole-whip that was made in one and it was delicious

[jeffshoaf]

I finally found a negative review on YouTube. It's from America's Test Kitchen; I like their reviews but they do seem to have a bias against the more techie gadgets. 

Mine is out for delivery today; I have limited ingredients today but will certainly try to get something in the freezer to try tomorrow evening.

[tekobo]

I have a PacoJet.  We bought one off eBay in 2020 for a third of the list price, still within guarantee.  It is an awesome piece of kit and makes the BEST ice cream and sorbet you have ever eaten.  It is a great way to preserve beautiful summer fruit.  You make your ice cream or sorbet mix and then freeze solid.  Milling just what you need when you need it is a restaurant trick that means you get fresh made ice cream every time.  I can't recommend it highly enough and if Jeff's new toy is even half way as good I am sure it will be worth it.  

There are a whole load of savoury applications of a Pacojet that I am yet to explore.  So little life and too much fun food to eat!

[tekobo]

It's 7 am here so no pics of freshly made ice cream but here is my set up.  As Jeff says, once you make and freeze your ice cream or sorbet mix in advance it is very easy to just reach in the freezer and present the perfect ice cream every time.  One really fun combination that we like is fennel ice cream with a chocolate brownie cake.  Never fails to please.  Papaya and chilli sorbet does mess with your mind, especially when I used a particularly hot Borg 9 chilli in the mix.

The PacoJet fits neatly into a small corner space in the kitchen.

The canisters of made up ice cream/sorbet are stored in a tray in the freezer.

The frozen mix looks like this.  Magic just waiting to happen.

[jeffshoaf]

Mine arrived yesterday; of course, I didn't have anything ready to spin since I didn't have the "pints" which are actually a pint and a half for the Deluxe model. I also was short on ingredients - all I had was skim milk so I attempted to get done if it closer to cream by mixing in some butter. I found a simple Creami recipe for orange sherbet online (orange juice, heavy cream, milk, and sugar) and mixed that up with my simulated cream. I also used a recipe from the Ninja recipe book for a "creamiccino", which is their version of a frappuccino using coffee, half& half, and sugar so I mixed one of those up as well.

I had an several errands to run this morning, including my weekly to to the grocery store where I stocked up on ingredients. After I got home, put the groceries up, and got the cats settled down, i spun the sherbet. I've linked to my amateur, totally unedited video of the process and attached a picture of the result and a picture of the cats (just because).

The sherbet was pretty good, but I did start tasting the butter near the bottom of the bowl. I prepped up two more easy recipes for future use - one with a can of peaches and sweetened condensed milk and the other just store-bought chocolate milk. I'm having foot surgery in a couple of weeks and won't be able to put any weight on it for 6 weeks, so I'll have plenty of time to experiment and get fatter.

 

[jeffshoaf]

@tekobo that's an impressive number of prepped containers! My Creami came with 4 and I've ordered 2 more but they're delayed - everyone is having trouble keeping them in stock.

I'm not sure about venturing into the savory side, but I do have some excess fresh basil. I found a recipe that had fresh basil and dill as the primary flavoring ingredients, so I may try that without the dill. I think basil and mint are related; I've not tried to grow any mint before since I haven't had any use for it but may have to try some in my indoor garden.

[tekobo]

Thanks for the video @jeffshoaf.  The one big difference, I think, is that the PacoJet can be set to mill out just the amount of ice cream you want and leaves the lower layer frozen so you can put it back in the freezer unmilled.  A book that I love and believe you have a version of in the US is by Kitty Travers and is called La Grotta Ices.  It is my go-to and has some great seasonal recipes.  Have fun! 

[jeffshoaf]

@tekobo the Deluxe does have the option to mill just half of the container - you pick "top" or "bottom" instead of "full" like I did in the video. 

One of my aggravations is that I haven't found a guide on when to use which modes if you're not following one of the provided recipes; my understanding is that the paco-jet has limited speed options, but the Creami can very both the blade speed and the speed that the blade moves up and down thru the mixture so you can get very different results depending on which of the 11 modes you use.

Gotta go to my mother's this afternoon to do her tax returns and then to meet some of my extended family for dinner so I'm planning on working up the creamiccino mix that I have ready to split between me, my sister, and my mom. The creamiccino is Ninja's version of the Starbucks frappuccino; we'll all just get a half pint but that'll be a taste. I have some travel coffee cups in the freezer to use so I'm hoping the drink doesn't thaw out too much but I'm a bit concerned it'll refreeze along the sides of the cups.

[jeffshoaf]

So I made the creamiccino (the non-copyrighted version of Starbuck's Frappuccino) yesterday as planned and split into 3 pre-frozen coffee travel mugs to take out to me mum's when I went with my sister to do mum's taxes returns. I've never had a genuine Frappuccino, but this was very good even with my fake cream. Good enough that I sort of wished I hadn't shared - the Creami Deluxe "pints" are actually a pint and a half (3 cups), and that 1 cup wasn't enough. My mother even liked it and she doesn't like cold coffee. My sister drove us and she arrived about 15 minutes earlier than expected so I didn't get pics.

I've got my canned peaches and sweetened condensed milk "pint" and chocolate milk "pint" frozen and ready to process - just gotta decide which one to dig into after dinner - and I went ahead and prepared another creamiccino but made with real half&half and monk fruit sweetener (to cut down on the calories) and another orange sherbert scaled up to the full pint and a half and made with monk fruit, and orange juice.

I can already see that the 4 "pints" that came with mine aren't gonna be enough. I ordered 2 additional "pints" the other day from HSN since they had a good price ($19.99) with free shipping but it looks like they're waiting on more stock. I went back to order at least 2 more but the free shipping is not longer available. Searched for other options but it looks like pretty much everybody (even the Ninja store and Amazon) are out of stock until late May.

[jeffshoaf]

Store-bought chocolate milk frozen and spun in the Creami Deluxe. Used the "top" setting so it only processed the top half.

 

[jeffshoaf]

I ran the rest of the chocolate milk "pint" on the "light ice cream" mode yesterday afternoon and the texture was even better but didn't get a pic.

Spun the creamiccino this morning and made a mess but it was tasty. I meant to add cocoa powder to the mix brie freezing but forgot to: 

 

 

[Poochie]

Add real cream, eggs, sugar, cherries or whatever. Cook it, cool it, add ice and churn it.  They make better versions of this one but the principle is the same. The best part is that you're making 4 to 6 quarts at a time. If it burns out after 3 or 4 years, you don't give a baboon's red behind because you already got your money's worth. 

[jeffshoaf]

55 minutes ago, Poochie said:

Add real cream, eggs, sugar, cherries or whatever. Cook it, cool it, add ice and churn it.  They make better versions of this one but the principle is the same. The best part is that you're making 4 to 6 quarts at a time. If it burns out after 3 or 4 years, you don't give a baboon's red behind because you already got your money's worth. 

I actually have one of those but haven't used it in years for exactly the reasons you state. Eggs and sugar are the only ingredients I generally have on hand, plus you need rock salt which I don't have on hand. Add in the fact that I live alone, and using it turns into a special event for family gatherings. It always seems to take longer that I expect and requires constant monitoring to add ice. And then I'm left with quarts of ice cream that, even if I'm happy with the initial result, send to develop ice crystals when I put the leftovers in the freezer.

The Creami let's me make a variety of flavors a pint or pint and a half at a time and I can stock multiple flavors and experiment without worrying about throwing out quarts of wasted ingredients when I have a failure. Plus the opportunity to make low calorie ice cream, sherbets, Italian ices, etc.

Oh, by the way, I can fix anything I cook in my KK in my oven or cook top in doors and not have to mess with charcoal or deal with the weather! And my convection oven and induction cook top cost less combined than my KK! 

 

[Poochie]

I had no idea you lived alone. I agree that 4 quarts would be lot to eat by yourself...even over a few weeks. When I make it, there's always a crowd over so it makes more sense for me. Not because it's cheaper but because of the amount I get out of it. I never have rock salt or ice for that matter on hand. 

Now your KK example stretches it a little bit. I have a Santa Maria grill now, oven and other cookers. They were all cheaper than the KK. But the KK is positively better, more versatile, and an item that will last 2 lifetimes.  I certainly wasn't saying that about an ice cream maker where the ice cream is done when the motor can't take the strain anymore and quits!  Oh yeah....low calorie ice cream? What's that? Enjoy your machine, Jeff. I may pick one up this summer. 

 

[tony b]

I remember having to hand crank our family's ice cream maker as a kid. We all took turns. Last person turning got to "lick the beater!" We eventually upgraded to the electric motor - while easier, it took some of the fun out of it.