Stabilizers and emulsifiers
If you’re making non- or low-fat ice cream and want to avoid iciness and really improve the texture, my best tip is to add a stabilizer and/or emulsifier. Below are a some links where you can find out more about using stabilizers and emulsifiers in ice cream and sorbet, but the tips carry over to the creami.
https://icecreamscience.com/stabilizers-ice-cream
Using Stabilizers in Ice Cream
Stabilizers – Ice Cream Calculator
DON’T OVERDO THE STABILIZERS AND EMULSIFIERS! Over-stabilized ice cream is gross. A little stabilizer goes a really long way. For example, for one creami pint, I might use a total of 0.5-0.8 g combined stabilizers, and 0.4-0.6g mono and diglycerides. It’s totally worth investing in a kitchen scale that weighs 0.01 gram increments. I got this one from Amazon.de.
A note on sugar-free pudding mix
If you’re scanning Youtube etc. for Ninja Creami recipes, you’ll quickly find that lots of North Americans are using Jello Sugar Free putting mix. I have good luck adding 5-8g per pint. Here in the Netherlands you can get it here.
However, the texture improvement comes from the main ingredient in sugarfree Jello pudding, which is modified cornstarch. I find that if I use stabilizers as above, I don’t need the pudding mix for texture. You can also get a product called “Ultratex” made by Special Ingredients. It is made of “Food Starch refined from Waxy Maize (E1442)”. So it’s basically the thickening agent that is used in sugar free instant pudding mix. When I use nonfat milk or yoghurt in my creamis, I add 2 -5 g of Ultratex and make sure to use an immersion blender to whip it up. It also helps to let the mixture stand for at least an hour, and then give it one last stir before putting it in the freezer.
Which stabilizers to use depend on the nature of your ingredients. One big factor is whether or not your mixture is heated or cold. None of my recipes involve heating the ingredients, so for nonfat milk- and yoghurt-based mixes I’ve had the best luck using a combination of guar gum, CMC, and “Ultratex.”
Artificial Sweeteners
You can get sucralose and erythritol here in the Netherlands easily, but what about exotic sweeteners like monk fruit and allulose? So far those aren’t approved yet here in Europe, so we can’t buy them locally. Never fear, you can order them from iHerb.com. I don’t know how iHerb manages this, but I’ve never had duty or import fees to have stuff shipped to the Netherlands. In my experience the shipping charges have also been reasonable.
Protein
For skinny ice cream, protein powder is your friend. So far I’ve had good luck using whey protein powder. Here in the Netherlands, I’ve had good luck with the “Impact Whey Protein” from MyProtein.com.
Cottage cheese is also a great way to add protein and improve the texture of your ice cream. Use the regular cottage cheese (not the light one) from AH or Jumbo…those both have a mild taste without too much of a sour “wang.” Adding 100 g or so to a pint does a lot to improve the texture, especially if you’re using non-dairy milks like almond or coconut milk.
Freezing your pints
It’s super, super important to place your pints in a level spot in your freezer. Trying to spin an crooked pint is a recipe for breaking your machine. If it does come out uneven, you can take a knife or spoon and scrape the top to get it even.
People recommend freezing the pints with the lid off to avoid getting a big hump in the middle. I’ve had mixed results with this. What I do now is just make sure the pints are level and freeze with the lid on. This does create a hump in the middle, but as long as it’s centered, it doesn’t seem to bother the machine. I’ve found it’s easier to even out the “middle hump” that forms with lid-off freezing than it is to fix uneven pints that I froze with the lid off.
Advice about spinning
There is a lot of conflicting advice about how to spin. Which program to use and how many re-spins you need will depend on the nature of your mixture and the temperature of your frozen pints. The colder the frozen mixture, the more spinning you’re going to need.
Below is an image that shows what the various programs do.
There is also a Reddit post here that explains the program speed settings in more detail.
- No need to let the pint sit out before spinning. Some people run hot water over the sides of the container before spinning to get the mixture to release from the sides of the container. I don’t bother with this, because I always end up scraping the sides of my container after the first spin anyway, and the hot water treatment doesn’t seem to make a difference.
- After the first spin, take a dull knife and run it around the sides to make sure any icy parts are released. And if you feel like your ice cream recipe didn’t freeze uniformly, you can also try to stir it a bit and bring the contents of the bottom up to the top. Then you’ll get a more uniform consistency on your subsequent spins.
- Experiment with the different programs. For my most recent mixes, which are very low fat and tend to separate into a top and bottom layer in the freezer, my procedure is: 1) light ice cream, 2) scrape the sides, 3) light ice cream, 3) stir to distribute bottom and top contents, and 4) a final “respin” or “+ Extras” to blend everything evenly. I don’t like my creamis to be too “fluffy,” but prefer a denser texture.
Cleaning your Creami
One major flaw of the Ninja Creami’s design is the lid, because some people report having a really tough time keeping it clean. So far I have not had any problems AT ALL. I make sure to thoroughly wash it with hot water as soon as I’m done spinning…you will see that there are holes in the lid that allow you to flush out the inside with running water. I let it dry tipped on its side so that any remaining water can drain out. I also make sure to wipe off the little metal nubbin-spinner-thingie that connects to the lid. To see it you have to bend down and and look under the top of where your pints go, so it’s easy to forget to keep that clean.
Good luck with your Creami, and happy spinning!