Another day, another Ninja Creami ice cream recipe. I have been absolutely loving my machine since I bought it a month ago. I have made vanilla ice cream, strawberry ice cream, even a mango and kombucha sorbet! Today I’m sharing an easy recipe for Ninja Creami mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Ninja Creami mint chocolate chip ice cream
This ice cream uses a simple mix of white sugar, milk, cream and peppermint extract. It takes all of 5 minutes to mix up and you can customise the creaminess according to your preferences.
After freezing and processing, melted and cooled dark chocolate is added to the mixture before re-spinning. This results in delicious chunks of chocolate that are evenly dispersed throughout your ice cream.
The ice cream can easily be lactose free with lactose free dairy products (more on this below). It’s a delicious and refreshing dessert that everyone will love.
Cream and milk content for Ninja Creami ice cream
As I make more and more ice cream, I have been noticing quirks and tips for making a cream based ice cream in the Ninja machine.
Ninja Creami ice cream is incredibly cold ice cream. Necessarily so, as we are blending frozen ingredients. This is the opposite of a traditional ice cream maker, which processes room temperature ingredients into a frozen dessert.
What this means in practise is that a high fat ice cream, when eaten freshly processed, will likely leave a film on the roof of your mouth. In fact, even a super cold low fat ice cream has the potential for this.
Knowing this can help you design an ice cream based on your preferences. If you like to eat very cold ice cream, use less cream. If you prefer softened ice cream, use more cream.
I developed this recipe using the ice cream calculator by Dream Scoops. I find it incredibly, insanely helpful in determining the milk fat percentage of an ice cream. The maximum milk fat percentage for an ice cream should be around 20%. Any more than this and you risk creating an overly fatty ice cream. This will taste grainy, split and leave a film all over your mouth. It is also easily over churned – think of what happens when you over-beat whipped cream.
With that said, an all milk ice cream is prone to being overly icy in texture. Without the fat, there’s nothing for the milk to emulsify with and you are left with icy ice cream.
Choosing your milk to cream ratio
So, how much milk and cream creates an ideal ratio? This ice cream uses 100g sugar and can use 200g full fat thickened cream and 200g full fat milk. You can’t add more cream than this, but you can tilt the ratios the other way.
For example, 150g thickened cream and 250g milk. You can also use 100g thickened cream and 300g milk. I wouldn’t go too far further than this, but you are welcome to experiment and see what works best for you.
Obviously, the more cream is added the creamier your ice cream will be (to an extent). The more milk is added, the lighter your ice cream will be. Very light ice cream tends to be icy, so you might need to add a gum like xanthan gum to compensate for the texture.
What works best for mint chocolate chip ice cream? I am quite biased to a creamier ice cream, but the batch I made with 100g cream and 300g milk also worked well. I think the cream carries the mint flavour better but that is a personal preference.
A tip on texture
My experience with super creamy Ninja Creami ice creams is that you need to allow them to soften to avoid getting a film on the roof of your mouth. I have noticed that with most cream based Ninja Creami ice creams.
While sorbet and protein ice creams seem to have the right texture immediately, cream based ice creams need to warm up just a bit to be at their ideal eating consistency.
Can I change how much sugar is added?
This recipe uses 80-100g caster sugar (also known as superfine sugar). Like cream and milk, there is an ideal percentage of sugar in ice cream. Too much sugar creates an ice cream that will not set, and too little (aside from tasting unpleasant) creates rock hard ice cream.
By the Dream Scoops ice cream standards, my recipe uses a little too much sugar. I am not sure if using a Ninja Creami changes the calculations when compared to a regular ice cream maker, but either way.
As per the calculator, 75g of sugar would be an appropriate amount of sugar for 200g full fat thickened cream and 200g full fat milk.
All this to say: you can experiment with adding less sugar but I wouldn’t experiment with adding more unless you want a very soft and very sweet ice cream.
Tips for your Ninja Creami mint chocolate chip ice cream
- How much peppermint or spearmint extract you add depends on the brand you use. I recommend using a supermarket version cut with vegetable oil here as opposed to pure drops. If you use those, add it to taste as opposed to the amount in the recipe.
- Green food colouring is very optional. Initially I didn’t see the need, but it is a bit of fun. I recommend adding the drops before freezing.
- Melted and cooled chocolate is an easy way to fully disperse the chocolate in your ice cream. Make sure to dig a hole to the bottom of the ice cream to ensure the chocolate is evenly distributed. I use the re-spin option as I find the mix in option to be hit and miss.
- Keep in mind that you are adding a warmer ingredient by added melted chocolate. Make sure your ice cream is not too soft prior to adding it. If it is, you might need to put it back in the freezer to firm up after mixing in the chocolate.
- I always leave the lid off to freeze the mixture and then put the lid on any leftovers afterwards. This helps to stop your ice cream from forming a hump in the middle that can damage your machine.
More Ninja Creami recipes
- Ninja Creami vanilla ice cream
- My new Ninja Creami ice cream recipe e-book, with recipes like Pistachio, real dark chocolate and sticky date
- Ninja Creami strawberry ice cream
- Ninja Creami raspberry sorbet
- The dairy free/vegan version of my new Ninja Creami e-book, which includes a dairy free recipe for mint chocolate chip ice cream
- High protein Ninja Creami recipe e-book (with 12 high protein recipes including a high protein mint chocolate chip ice cream)
Ninja Creami mint chocolate chip ice cream
Ingredients
- 80-100g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 100-200g full fat thickened cream (for a total of 400g dairy, see notes) 35% milk fat
- 200-300g full fat milk (for a total of 400g dairy, see notes)
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (adjust according to your tastes, how fresh and how potent your peppermint extract brand is)
- Green food colouring, to achieve your desired colour (optional)
- 30g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
Instructions
- Combine your milk and milk in a bowl. Once the sugar is mostly dissolved (this should only take a few minutes) whisk in the cream.
- Add the peppermint extract to your tastes and preferences. Note that you only need a little bit for big impact when it comes to peppermint extract.
- Add the optional green food colouring to achieve your desired colour, if you are using it.
- Decant the mixture into your 470ml Ninja Creami tub. Freeze for 16-24 hours (the ideal freezing time will depend on how cold your freezer is).
- When the mixture is ready, spin it once on ice cream. It should achieve a creamy and smooth texture on the first spin and should still be firm and cold.
- Make a well in the centre of the ice cream. Drizzle the melted and cooled chocolate into the well and around the edges.
- Use the re-spin function to create the chocolate chips in your ice cream. If the mixture is too soft, return to the freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm up.
- Place the lid on any leftovers and return to the freezer. I find cream based ice creams don't require a re-spin before eating – simply allow them to come to room temperature.
Notes
- The original cream to milk ratio for this ice cream is 200g full fat thickened cream and 200g full fat milk. You can adjust this to use less cream and more milk, but the dairy content needs to remain at 400g total.
- You cannot use less than 100g cream in this recipe. So, the lightest option is 100g cream and 300g milk. The richest option is 200g cream and 200g milk.
- I have not tested any sugar alternatives here and have no experience in using them.
- For a lactose free option, use lactose free milk and cream.
- For a dairy free/vegan option, use my Ninja Creami vegan vanilla ice cream as the base and add in the peppermint extract and dark chocolate (use a vegan brand).
Hello,
I’m in the UK and absolutely love following your recipes because they always work so well, but was disappointed to find that the same isn’t the case here – after the first spin the mixture was soft and slushy, with visible ice crystals in which did not go away with refreezing or responding ☹️ any thoughts on why? I’ve used oil-based flavouring as suggested which sat on top after blending all of the ingredients together, do you have this issue? Perhaps an emulsifier might help to combine it? I used a paste-based food colouring so as not to add too much extra liquid content, and used the highest cream ratio that you suggested (equal cream and milk)
I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work for you Claire!
I made this one the other day and it worked nicely so I wonder if there might be a difference in Australian cream vs UK cream? What fat percentage did you use?
Generally I find when they fail to freeze it’s an issue with too much sugar. Fat can play a role, but I normally find the sugar is the culprit. Maybe the cream or milk had a higher sugar content than what I am using?
I would recommend trying dropping the sugar back to 75-80g. Did you use caster sugar or white sugar?
You can also try using warm milk to dissolve the sugar fully or cooking the mixture on a low heat for 3-5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved (be sure to keep it low to avoid splitting the cream).
One other thing to check is that your freezer is super cold and the mixture is sufficiently chilled. By the sounds of it you’re a Ninja Creami regular but if not it can take time to learn how long your creamis need to chill.
The oil on top shouldn’t present an issue as it’s only 1/4 teaspoon which is a very small amount. I haven’t worked with paste colour before but I doubt that would be the issue either.
My money is on the sugar content but you could also ensure the cream isn’t too high in fat. 30-35% is the maximum I recommend. If you have used 35%, it might be worth dropping it to a 30% or so if you can find one. I generally also find it can help to use one light dairy product (ie the milk) and one full fat (the cream) or vice versa.
It’s more of an insurance policy rather than anything else but might be something to try.
Fingers crossed dropping the sugar back works for you!
Thank you so much for your suggestions. Our alternative to thickened cream is whipping cream, with a fat content of 38.5-39.5%. The only other options are double cream (~50%) or single (~19%). This is the same cream that I have used when making your vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ones though, so wouldn’t I see the same effect there? The only change really is the flavouring. I experimented with a previous batch with a higher milk to cream ratio before seeing your recipe (a ‘perfect’ balance, according to Dreamscoops), using I think 2:1 (milk:cream) and condensed milk in place of the sugar, and this had the same problem! I might try adding the flavouring with the chocolate, since that seems to be the only anomaly in this recipe compared to others where I’ve had such success ????
The difference with this recipe vs the other recipes is that they have a ‘binder’ of sorts – condensed milk and strawberries and to an extent cocoa. These give you a bit of cushioning as to the sugar and fat ratios. With just sugar, cream and milk there’s nothing to hold things together if they are a bit too sugary or icy. There’s nothing to hide behind or emulsify.
I just tested the version I made last night (cooked the sugar and dropped it back to 80g) and it is lovely and thick. It was done in one spin but I respun just to get an extra light texture and it was still firm enough to eat.
I am guessing that the math of 1.5X a recipe isn’t exact and you probably need to scale the sugar back further. I do also just think the sugar versions can be a bit more icy/thin in texture in general when compared to a liquid sugar (condensed milk, agave etc), but I suspect that the sugar and scaling the recipe up is the culprit as opposed to the mint extract.
You could also add mint to the vanilla recipe but it will have that faint condensed milk flavour!
Also to add, I used caster sugar and did actually reduce the sugar a bit as I didn’t want it to be quite as sweet – I have the deluxe so had to multiply everything by 1.5, but I used 140g instead of the recommended 150g – maybe I could try reducing it further.
I am making a big batch of creami flavours to test this evening so I have whipped up a mint choc chip with the mods I listed above. I’ll let you know how it goes and whether the texture works on my end!