Ninja Creami Scoop and Swirl Spins Holiday Eggnog and Pumpkin into Soft Serve

Year-round ice cream fans keep a container ready in the freezer, and the Ninja Creami Scoop and Swirl Ice Cream Maker, priced at $279.99 today (was $350), turns those frozen bases into cones even after the holidays arrive. Instead of relying on a built-in freezer that chills a liquid while it churns, the machine starts with a solid block of mix that has sat overnight. Pour store-bought eggnog or a blended pumpkin puree base straight into one of the included 16-ounce pints, snap on the lid, and leave it level in the freezer for a full 24 hours. Once that block is hard, the real work begins on the counter.

The outer bowl’s lid holds a Creamerizer paddle. Slide the frozen pint inside, seal the lid in place, then select Soft Serve or Scoop mode. 13 one-touch programs are then activated, with the paddle chugging down through the block of ice cream, spinning and moving at the appropriate speed for the ingredients. Stuff with a high dairy content ends faster, but if you’re using a fruit-based or high protein mix, expect a longer program. After a few minutes, you’ll have a rich, creamy texture that you can eat directly from the pint or pass through the soft serve side for a more…well, soft serve experience.

To create a swirly cone, move the processed ice cream to the left-hand dispenser. Get the blue tabs lined up, open the white base on the bottom of the pint, and grip and pull the handle. There are three speed options to govern how fast it comes out, and it is fed through a star-shaped nozzle by a swirl press. There is a brief pause while the press moves in to meet the mix (around 10 seconds is about right). You can now hold a cone under the nozzle and rotate it slowly in a circle to create a classic spiral. When you’re done, release the handle to stop the flow. Any leftovers can be stored in the freezer and re-spun if they get too hard.

If you want to get some festive flavors, the method is rather simple. The official word from Ninja is that you can simply pour in two cups of ordinary eggnog, freeze it overnight, and then run it through the Soft Serve and Ice Cream. If your freezer is really cold and the surface appears crumbly after the first spin, simply throw it back in for another spin, and the texture should fix itself.

Pumpkin variants are similar: combine pumpkin puree, milk, cream, brown sugar, and a pinch of pie spice, freeze in a pint, and then run through an ice cream or soft serve machine. You can add crushed gingersnaps or white chocolate chips later by forming a well in the center of the ice cream and running the mix-in cycle. In either case, the mixture is dense enough to maintain a swirl while being soft enough to pipe into cones for your party.

One of the advantages of this ice cream machine is that the majority of the parts, such as the pints and lids, are simple to wash in the dishwasher. So, if you have a busy holiday week, you can prepare a pint the nite before and spin it into a swirly cone in minutes while you finish putting dinner on the table. For those who enjoy ice cream all year, the Scoop and Swirl allows you to keep seasonal flavors like eggnog and pumpkin on tap long after the decorations have been taken down.