If you loved Baskin Robbins Baseball Nut ice cream as a kid, you have to try this Ninja Creami baseball nut protein ice cream. It’s a creamy vanilla base loaded with chopped cashews and homemade raspberry sauce throughout, and I promise you would never know it’s a protein ice cream.
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Baseball Nut from Baskin Robbins has such a unique flavor combination with the creamy vanilla base, cashews, and ribbons of raspberry running through every bite. Recreating that at home seemed impossible until I started experimenting with it in the Ninja Creami. This version is similar to the real deal, and it has a fraction of the calories with a ton more protein.
The flavor combination in this recipe is what makes it work. You start with a vanilla protein shake as the base, then add vanilla bean paste to deepen that vanilla flavor and give it real specks of vanilla bean throughout. The guar gum is the unsung hero here, it’s what keeps the texture thick and creamy instead of icy or chalky. Then you get the homemade raspberry sauce and chopped cashews as mix-ins, which is where the real baseball nut flavor comes in.
The raspberry sauce is the secret to this whole recipe. The Ninja Creami machine doesn’t do ribbons or swirls the way a traditional ice cream maker would, so instead of fighting the machine, you cook the fresh raspberries down with a little allulose, cornstarch, water, and lemon juice. Cooking concentrates the raspberry flavor and thickens it up so you get real bursts of raspberry in every bite, not a watery mess that softens the texture of your ice cream.
The chopped cashews are what really make this taste like the original. I chop them up before adding them as a mix-in because the Ninja Creami mix-ins function pulverizes soft things but doesn’t break up hard things at all. Whole cashews would be way too big and crunchy in this. Chopping them first means every spoonful gets that nutty flavor without it being too much.
What I love most about this recipe is that it doesn’t taste like a protein ice cream at all. The vanilla bean paste does most of the heavy lifting in the base, the cooked raspberry sauce gives you that real fruit flavor, and the guar gum keeps the texture thick and creamy instead of chalky or icy. You end up with 32 grams of protein per pint and a flavor that tastes like something you grabbed from the freezer aisle, not a healthier swap for it.
Tips for making Ninja Creami Baseball Nut Protein Ice Cream
Baseball nut ice cream is a vanilla ice cream base with pieces of cashews and ribbons of sweet raspberry sauce throughout. The Ninja Creami doesn’t make good ribbons or swirls, so in this recipe, the raspberry sauce gets added as a mix-in instead. You end up with a creamy vanilla ice cream that has bits and pieces of raspberries and cashews in every bite.
You can, but the ice cream won’t be nearly as good. Cooking the raspberries with the sugar substitute helps bring out the flavor in the raspberries and concentrates it. The raspberry flavor becomes more intense and adds so much more flavor to the ice cream than raw raspberries would.
Yes! Fresh or frozen (thawed) raspberries both work great for this sauce. Just make sure that frozen raspberries are fully thawed before you start cooking so the sauce thickens evenly. I’ll be honest, I usually use whatever I have on hand and the taste is the same either way.
Cashews are what make this taste like the original baseball nut flavor, but you can swap them for pecans, almonds, walnuts, or pistachios if that’s what you have. Just chop them up before adding as a mix-in since the Ninja Creami doesn’t break up hard things on its own. Whole nuts will come out really hard and tough to bite.
Not at all! The vanilla bean paste, raspberry sauce, and cashews give this so much flavor that you would never know there’s a protein shake in it. The texture is thick and creamy too, not chalky or icy like a lot of protein ice creams can be.
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Ingredient tips and substitutions
The full ingredient list is at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.
- Vanilla Protein Shake– Premier Protein and Fairlife both work great in this Ninja Creami recipe, but if you don’t have a protein shake, use the same volume of your milk of choice mixed with vanilla protein powder and adjust the flavor and sweetness based on what you use.
- Vanilla Bean Paste– If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract works in the same amount.
- Guar Gum– Guar gum is what gives this ice cream its creamy texture, and if you can’t find it, xanthan gum works as a substitute at a 1:1 ratio.
- Fresh Raspberries– Fresh or frozen (thawed) raspberries both work great for the sauce.
- Swerve Sugar Substitute (Granulated-Allulose Blend)– Use your favorite granulated sweetener that is a 1:1 ratio with sugar, or use real sugar if you prefer.
- Corn Starch– Cornstarch thickens the raspberry sauce so it’s not watery, and arrowroot powder works as a 1:1 substitute if that’s what you have.
- Cashews– Raw or roasted cashews both work, just make sure to chop them up before adding as a mix-in since the Ninja Creami machine doesn’t break up hard things.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk (Optional)– This only gets used if the ice cream looks dry or crumbly after the first spin, and any dairy or non-dairy works in its place like whole milk, 2% milk, coconut milk, oat milk, or Fairlife milk (higher fat content gives you a creamier texture).
Directions for Making the Ice Cream Mixture
- In a small saucepan, over medium heat, cook raspberries with the swerve sugar substitute, cornstarch, water, and lemon juice. Stir the mixture to help break open the berries. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken slightly. Let the raspberry sauce cool.
- Pour the protein shake, vanilla bean paste, and guar gum into a small blender and blend until all ingredients have completely combined. Pour the mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container.
- Freeze on a level surface for 24 hours. Your freezer should be between 9 and -7 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid getting a bump on the top of the frozen mixture, freeze with the lid off of the container.
Directions for Processing the Ice Cream Mixture
- After 24 hours, remove the pint container from the freezer.
- Place the pint container into the outer bowl of the Ninja Creami and then process on “LITE ICE CREAM.”
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking, pour in a tablespoon or two of unsweetened almond milk and then re-spin. Only re-spin once. The raspberry sauce that is added as a mix-in has a lot of liquid in it and if you re-spin more than once, the ice cream will be very soft.
- Dig a well down the center of the ice cream and pour in the chopped cashews and raspberry sauce that you made. Process on mix-ins.
- Remove the pint from the machine and enjoy!
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Recipe
Ninja Creami Baseball Nut Protein Ice Cream
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Equipment
Add Food Grade Vegetable Glycerin To Make Leftover Ice Cream Scoopable Right Out of the Freezer
Per 16 ounce pint: *Add 1 Teaspoon to full fat/full sugar bases *Add 1.5 teaspoon to high protein bases *Add 2 teaspoons to low sugar/low fat lite bases. Freeze and process per the recipe. Take the leftovers out of the freezer and scoop without having to reprocess. ***This is a guideline and adjustments may be needed based on your recipe.
Original, Breeze, Swirl, and Deluxe Ingredient Measurements
Use the multiplier below to adjust quantities based on the machine that you own. ***If you have the Original, Breeze, or Swirl machine, which use 16 ounce containers, choose the 1X option. ***If you have the Deluxe or XL machine, which use 24 ounce containers, choose the 1.5X option.
Ingredients
Ice Cream Base
- 11.5 Fluid Ounces (326 g) Vanilla Protein Shake
- 1 Teaspoon (1 Teaspoon) Vanilla Bean Paste
- ¼ Teaspoon (¼ Teaspoon) Guar Gum
Mix-ins
- ¼ Cup (30 g) Raspberries (Fresh or frozen(thawed))
- 1 Teaspoon (1 Teaspoon) Swerve Sugar Substitute (Granulated-Allulose Blend)
- ½ Teaspoon (½ Teaspoon) Corn Starch
- 1 Tablespoon (2 Teaspoons) Water
- 1 Tablespoon (1 Tablespoon) Cashews (Chopped)
Optional
- 1-2 Tablespoons (1 Tablespoons) Unsweetened Almond Milk
Instructions
Prepare the Raspberry Sauce
- In a small saucepan, over medium heat, cook raspberries with the swerve sugar substitute, cornstarch, water, and lemon juice. Stir the mixture to help break open the berries. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken slightly. Let the raspberry sauce cool.
Make the Ice Cream Mixture
- Pour the protein shake, vanilla bean paste, and guar gum into a small blender and blend until all ingredients have completely combined. Pour the mixture into a Ninja Creami pint container.
- Freeze on a level surface for 24 hours. Your freezer should be between 9 and -7 degrees Fahrenheit. To avoid getting a bump on the top of the frozen mixture, freeze with the lid off of the container.
Process the Ice Cream
- After 24 hours, remove the pint container from the freezer.
- Place the pint container into the outer bowl of the Ninja Creami and then process on "LITE ICE CREAM."
- If the ice cream is dry or crumbly looking, pour in a tablespoon or two of unsweetened almond milk and then re-spin. Only re-spin once. The raspberry sauce that is added as a mix-in has a lot of liquid in it and if you re-spin more than once, the ice cream will be very soft.
- Dig a well down the center of the ice cream and pour in the chopped cashews and raspberry sauce that you made. Process on mix-ins.
- Remove the pint from the machine and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. Optional ingredients are not included in the nutrition information.
Recipes that use allulose:
Allulose is a low calorie sweetener that your body doesn't fully digest, so it provides only 0.4 calories per gram instead of 4. That's why the calorie total doesn't match what you'd expect from the carb count. Calories from allulose are calculated based on metabolized carbohydrates. Allulose contributes fewer calories than standard carbohydrates.
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