Ingredient and Mix-Ins FAQs

One cup of candy gives an impressive amount for appearance and flavor and doesn’t overflow the mixer. All candies need to be added during the last minute of churning or folded in, preferably being refrigerated or frozen to minimize impact on the ice cream.

We recommend 8-10 2-inch sandwich cookies, or about 1 cup of your favorite cookies, crumbled pie crust, or crumbled pretzel pieces. Adding these in the last minute of churning is recommended to prevent the pieces from dissolving in the mix.

Don’t add raw cookie dough to your ice cream as it could be hazardous to your health. The exception is if it is a commercially prepared dough that is identified as being safe to eat raw.

Start with ¼ teaspoon and increase the spice up to 2 teaspoons, depending on the spice and your personal tastes.

Extract use varies with the flavor and the age of the extracts you have. For our peppermint ice cream recipe, we used ¼ teaspoon to achieve a vibrant flavor. We would recommend that as a starting point for any other flavors you try, adjusting up to meet your taste.

Treat the Chilly Churn™ liquid mix as the water in the brand’s reconstitution to get the full flavor. If the directions tell you to add 1 tablespoon per cup of water, use 1 tablespoon per cup of mix. Add more to intensify the flavor!

In making our Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie recipe, we found ¼ cup of peanut butter was needed to achieve great flavor. This is a good starting point for all nut butters.

Alcohol can prevent freezing in ice cream and will make the treat softer, so the proper amount based on the type of liquor you use is important. When using cordials, crème de menthe, raspberry liqueur, or any sweet alcoholic beverage around 40 proof, ¼ cup (2 oz.) is recommended. As you increase the proof (alcohol content of the liquor), reduce the amount of liquor. The recommended amount of a 90-proof liquor would be 1/8 cup (1 oz).

If you add jelly swirls, be sure to use refrigerated jam or jelly and make the swirls after you remove the ice cream from the machine. Adding them during the churning process will weaken the desired flavor. We recommend adding these to the ice cream when placing in the freezing container for the freezer. First, add a layer of ice cream, swirl in the jam or jelly leaving streaks, then add more ice cream and jam, repeating until the container is ready. One-quarter cup of jam or jelly is a good starting point.

Fresh fruits should be added starting at a cup per batch of ¼ inch diced fruit or small whole berries added at the end of the churning to just mix in. If adding a banana, mash one ripe banana and add early in the churning process.

Ice cream containing fresh fruit should be eaten the same day to avoid freezing too hard.

Using canned fruit in heavy syrup will have a higher sugar level and freeze less hard.

Glace fruits (candied fruits), sugar-infused cherries, and strawberries will not freeze and keep their original texture, but the ice cream must be eaten quickly as it may soften around the pieces.

Don’t try this at home. The acidity of the citrus juice can curdle milk when used at a level to achieve a desired flavor. Similarly, drink mixes that are not designed for milk (often with “ade” as part of the name) often have acid levels that are too high to use in milk products, which causes the milk to break down. If you want citrus flavor in your Chilly Churn, use extracts and zest.

If you add egg to the recipe, you must heat the milk to 200 degrees and slowly add it to the beaten egg to cook it for food safety before making the mix. You will have to refrigerate the product (8 hours to overnight) before putting the mix into the ice cream freezer or the mix will not freeze properly.