I recently posted a recipe for a pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream. It is creamy, delicious and dessert perfection, in my opinion. However, it does use sweetened condensed milk as the sweetener. Some people can’t have dairy or high lactose dairy like condensed milk, which is why I am posting this maple pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream.

Maple pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream

Name: Maple pumpkin Ninja Creami ice cream
Prep time: 5 min
Ingredients: 200 g pumpkin puree; 75-100 g pure maple syrup; 150 g cream (regular or lactose free); 75 g milk (regular or lactose free, see notes for vegan option); 1 – 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice; Pinch of salt

This recipe, as you may have guessed, uses a combination of pure maple syrup and pumpkin puree. They are joined with a bit of thickened cream, some milk and some pumpkin spice to create a rich, complex and deliciously maple-y pumpkin ice cream.

Because we’re not using sweetened condensed milk, this a lower FODMAP and easily lactose free recipe. In fact, there is also the option to make this recipe vegan (which we will go into below).

This is the perfect recipe for fall that is rich yet cozy. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Ingredient notes for your Maple pumpkin Ninja Creami

First and foremost: I insist on pure maple syrup here. I haven’t tested any ‘maple flavoured syrup’ here and I have no intention of doing so. You are welcome to experiment, but I can’t guarantee the result.

I have tested homemade pumpkin puree and Libby’s pumpkin puree in this recipe. Both work nicely, although I prefer the flavour and colour of homemade puree. I use Kent/Japanese pumpkin and make the puree in the microwave. You can find a recipe here.

Some varieties of pumpkin puree or more sweet or less sweet. This means there may be a bit of trial and error for a sweetness level that you like. I don’t recommend making too much or too little sugar as it negatively impacts ice cream texture.

This recipe uses thickened cream which needs to be approximately 30-35% fat content. You can find this information on the tub. Ice cream can be finicky and too much fat can leave a film on the roof of your mouth, split the ice cream or just create unpleasant texture. Too little fat, on the other hand, makes for an icy and thin texture without that bit of bite that you expect from a good ice cream.

There is room for a bit of experimentation with the cream, scaling it down and replacing some of it with milk. See what you like!

I am Australian and don’t have easy access to pumpkin spice. As such, I used Sally’s Baking Addiction’s recipe which is delicious.

A macro close up image of a tub of vegan pumpkin Ninja Creami. An ice cream scoop digs into the ice cream in the centre of the tub

Vegan pumpkin spice Ninja Creami

As we have touched on above, it is very easy to make a vegan version of this recipe.

As with all my vegan Ninja Creami recipes, I recommend using Flora Plant Cream as the cream component. This is not sponsored, just a great vegan product that I use regularly when I don’t want things to taste like coconut or ‘vegan’ more generally.

The plant cream here in Australia contains 30g fat per 100ml. This is roughly on par with regular thickened cream, which is generally around 35g fat per 100ml.

The Australian version uses the following ingredients: ‘Lentil milk (water, lentil Protein (1%)), vegetable oils (coconut, canola),sugar, modified corn starch, emulsifiers (sunflower lecithin, sugar esters of fatty acids, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids), stabilisers (guar gum, locust bean gum), natural flavourings, salt, colour (beta-carotene).’

If you’re based overseas, use a vegan with similar ingredients and proportions to the above for best results. Although I haven’t tested the versions overseas, they do seem to be very similar to the variety sold here in Australia.

Vegan cream notes for international readers

In the UK, there are two varieties of Flora plant cream – regular and double. You want to stay as close to 30g per 100ml fat as possible, so choose the double cream variety.

In researching, I came across Elmlea brand plant cream which also has a very similar ingredients list to Flora Plant cream. Make sure you choose the 100% plant cream version, though, as there seems to be a buttermilk version with a confusing name – ‘alternative to double cream.’

In America, it seems as though there is some Flora plant cream available in a limited capacity. However, it also appears that there is a variety from Country Crock that has similar ingredients to the Flora plant cream I used. It contains 30g fat per 100ml. I couldn’t tell if Canada has Country Crock or Flora plant cream available because their supermarkets have blocked international users from browsing lol.

I couldn’t find much information on the availability of vegan cream in Europe. Flora plant cream is made in Germany but I actually couldn’t determine whether it is available for sale there. I suspect that is to do with the fact that I live in Australia and I end up getting more local search results.

Either way, make sure your cream is at least 30% fat and has a similar ingredients list to the cream I have used. I can’t guarantee results that use something different.

An aerial image of a tub of pumpkin maple Ninja creami ice cream on a white marble table

Vegan Ninja Creami tips

I haven’t tested any coconut cream or vegan cream products other than what is listed in the recipe card. You are welcome to try, but you will be experimenting. Stick to around 30g fat per 100g to keep the fat profile similar to dairy cream.
Flora Plant Cream whips up very easily and contributes a lot of bubbles. The bubbles, in turn, push the Ninja Creami mixture above the fill line when it wouldn’t ordinarily be. I recommend mixing all the ingredients together except for the cream, then adding the cream and stirring with a spoon. Using a whisk agitates the cream very easily and you will end up with an airy mixture.
With that said, I have successfully processed a bubbly batch and it didn’t adversely impact my machine. Proceed with caution, but it didn’t overflow or anything because a lot of the mixture was bubbles.
Another thing I recommend is replacing the milk component with water. Most non-dairy milks have a distinct flavour and we are trying to keep the flavour deceptively neutral.
I found that the vegan cream made for a slightly sweeter ice cream than the regular cream. You could experiment with using 75g maple syrup here if you prefer a less sweet ice cream or if you are using homemade pumpkin puree (which I find sweeter than Libby’s brand).

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