For this one, we wanted to show how to make a basic, versatile vanilla, but really ramp up the vanilla flavor and protein. Easy: Use 2.5 scoops of MD Protein vanilla instead of the usual two scoops. This has 67 grams of protein per pint before you add your mix-in of choice.
It’ll probably be more of a texture thing with full-fat milk, rather than flavor, at least when using MD Protein which takes care of the flavor and even improves the texture with fat-free milk.
But the general rule is: the more fat the creamier the texture. But like you said, that also adds calories. You could go with heavy cream for example and it would be mind blowing, but you’d probably get your daily allotment of calories in a single pint!
You can tell the difference with 1% vs. fat free, but it’s pretty minor. Might need a re-spin when using fat free milk or almond milk. A tablespoon of half-n-half added before the re-spin does the trick.
I have three pints freezing now, kind of an experiment:
Peanut Butter Cup: Lite coconut milk (lower fat), 50 calories per serving vs. 120 per serving of full-fat coconut milk.
Vanilla: 2% milk. My first time using 2%, which is considered reduced-fat milk. Full-fat is, by law, 3.25% and often 4%.
Pink Starburst: 1% milk, sugar-free gelatin in Starburst flavor
We’ll know tomorrow how they turn out.
It’s… kinda weird, but kiddos would love it. Not much of a colorful candy person myself, but it was fine.
12 oz milk of choice (I used 1% organic)
2 scoops MD Protein, vanilla
1-2 teaspoons Starburst gelatin mix, sugar-free (I used 2 and the flavor was a bit intense, but if you love Starburst go for it.)
1 drop red food coloring for fun
Mix-in:
The calories in most of these recipes is largely determined by the liquid used in the base (and your choice of mix-ins, of course). The base liquid also determines much of the texture. More fat is usually better, but then the calories rise.
So, here’s a handy chart ChatGPT helped me put together. I used 12 ounce of various liquids because that’s what most of these recipes call for. Yes, you can use other things like oat milk, but I just included the common stuff I prefer. I thought you might find this helpful too.
Oh, and if you’re doing a re-spin with an added tablespoon of liquid, just halve the calories in the “Calories Per Ounce” section since 1 tablespoon = half an ounce.
I just bought a bunch of these disposable containers for storage and for when I want to give someone a pint. Handy.
Here they are on Amazon.
Why yes, I am a master at PhotoShop.
You think you could even just go a couple scoops of MD and just water and possibly add a tbsp of milk or cream on the respin?
That might work. After all, some people just use RTD protein drinks in the CREAMi, which is just protein and water… and thickener, which may be the difference and make it easier on the machine, now that I think about it.
However, Ninja warns against using things that are too watery. Like, it says not to use canned-in-water fruits for sorbets or it could damage the machine. They say to use the canned-in-syrup kind and not to use straight fruit juice.
Some people even avoid using almond milk. Seems to work fine for me though, but maybe the machine hates it. 
Freeze and spin.
I made this one mainly to test out a 2% milk base vs. a 1% milk base.
Is there a difference? Yes, but it’s hard to notice if you’re not eating them side by side. The 2% is a little creamer, but that’ll cost you 36 extra calories vs. 1% per pint. Not a big deal either way.
The CREAMi direction book is very adamant about freezing the base for a full 24-hours before spinning it. This kinda sucks if you make a base at 9PM at night and want to eat it at 7PM the next day. That’s just 22 hours. Does it make a difference?
Well, in my experiments, I’ve found that around 20 hours of freezing time is enough, but 10 hours isn’t. It works, but you get soft-serve ice cream… which ain’t too shabby.
Here’s what 10 hours looks like:
This is the peanut butter recipe. I had a few bites, then froze it for a few more hours until was more like traditional ice cream. Much depends on your freezer setting, too.
Oh, and just for the fun of it, I made butterscotch ice cream by adding two tablespoons of sugar-free butterscotch pudding mix to the base. It was fine, I ate it, but not worth it given all the other decadent flavor options.
BTW, did you know that most photos of ice cream in advertising isn’t ice cream? Melts too fast, too hard to work with for the photographer and food stylist. Here’s what they use:
Oh well, I suppose AI is going to kill the food photography/stylists biz anyway.
Mashed potatoes works pretty good too. Or motor oil for syrup, and elmers glue for milk.
Althoigh I have tricked servers by putting strawberry jam on a scoop of lard and waiting to see who decides to sneak off with it.
I dunno, i think it will just shift people to make more authentic, less edied shots. The difference between AI and what they do will become almost seperate categories.
Probably so. I think, in many ways, real but imperfect food pics look better than the overly staged stuff.
“Stop being fat!” … perhaps increasing the amount of ice cream I’m consuming by 4,000% is going to hinder that edict haha
“Protein is thermogenic!” I tell myself as I eat a pint every night.
BUT, I’ve been doing this a month now with no fat gain so… not gonna stop. 
This 100%. It’s almost magic. A little scary for the inner fat dude in me but so far so good.
Me and my daughter made a peach ice cream with A2 whole milk, 1 scoop MD, and a crap load of frozen peaches. Measurements are exact, btw. Blended and frozen ready to sample tonight.
Buying some fairlife 1% for future pints to try.
sigh… yall really about to get me to buy a $150 ice cream machine arent you?
How did it turn out?
I added a little peach flavored gelatin when I made peach, maybe a teaspoon or two.
Going to sample it tonight…my daughter also made a Strawberry Starburst flavor and of course wanted that one first . We didn’t add the gelatin flavoring to the peach, so we will see how it goes. The starburst flavor was intense in the one we tried last night though. Crazy how strong some of those sugar free flavors are.
