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This post is sponsored by Magic Spoon. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
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McDonald’s is my all-time favourite fast food spot. If you know me, then you know that a McDonald’s breakfast really starts my day on the right foot - in particular, my go-to pairing is a Breakfast Sausage McMuffin along with a crispy Hash Brown. When it comes to burgers, I get so much nostalgia when I reminisce on the great times I had visiting McDonald’s India: the McAloo Tikki Burger or the Crispy Paneer Burger. One thing I think everyone can agree on is that no matter where you are in the world, the fries at McDonald’s are always the same deliciousness!
Despite being a huge McDonald’s fan boy, believe it or not McFlurries are actually only a new obsession of mine. I’m not sure why I never had them growing up, but I always wanted to go for the chocolate sundae - I just love the hot chocolate, and I do certainly ask for extra chocolate!
In December 2024, McDonald’s Canada launched a new McFlurry called the Grinch Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry for a limited time. I definitely wanted to try that out, so to avoid any more FOMO, I got one around the time it had launched to try it out. Honestly it was pretty amazing, and I knew I had to make this myself! As I describe in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, going out to eat is an excellent source of inspiration to try out new recipes at home! As you can see McDonald’s is always a source of inspiration for me! I had recently recreated the McDonald’s Oreo McFlurry recipe by adding a high protein spin to it, and it was really amazing with the help of the Ninja Creami! Since I love chocolate and since this is a McFlurry that is only available for Canada for a limited time, I wanted to share that no matter where you are in the world or what time of year it is, you can enjoy this super delicious McFlurry in the comfort of your own home! If you don’t have a Ninja Creami machine yet and you want to learn more about it, I definitely recommend you check out my deep dive video discussing all of the different settings and my first thoughts of the Ninja Creami here.
If you’ve always wanted to make your very own Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry right from home, then I certainly encourage you to prepare this homemade McFlurry as part of your one-month challenge! Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started for free today by signing up to my newsletter, plus all of my latest recipes will be sent right to your inbox!
To follow along as we prepare our frozen hot chocolate ice cream base and how this homemade Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry comes together, be sure to watch the video recipe! If you’re not already, it would mean a lot if you could please subscribe YouTube channel and be sure to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get started!
What’s In the Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry?▼
McFlurries are international delights at McDonald’s and they sure are a much-loved dessert! However, this McFlurry is a new addition to the McDonald’s menu as of December 2024. To note that it is only available as part of the McDonald’s Canada menu, so yay for Canada! While I tend to complain about the lack of variety of some Canadian version of menus, plus one point for McDonald’s having their very own McFlurry option! Here is the description of the frozen treat according to McDonald’s Canada:
Unwrap a new favourite McFlurry flavour this holiday season, with rich cocoa powder and mini marshmallows swirled into smooth vanilla soft serve.
source: McDonald’s Canada
With that being said, we’ll be making a frozen hot chocolate base, actually inspired by my S’mores Hot Chocolate recipe since it really packs in the chocolate! As mentioned in the official description, there will definitely be some mini marshmallows added in with a final dusting of cocoa powder. I’m also going to add a little crunchy extra with some cereal sent to me by Magic Spoon! Magic Spoon is an excellent cereal that is high in protein and low in carbs so that you don’t eat extra sugar than what is in the ice cream. Plus, the protein from the cereal will help keep you full, making this dessert more satisfying!
Questions You May Have!
What Kind of Milk Should I Use for This Frozen Hot CHocolate McFlurry?▼
To be authentic to the McFlurry and for best results, I do recommend that you use dairy milk to make this McFlurry recipe. The higher the fat content of your milk, the smoother and creamier it will be, and the closer it will be to replicating the actual McDonald’s McFlurry. Now, if you would rather be using a vegan milk such as almond milk (bonus points for making your own almond milkfrom scratch!), oat milk, or coconut milk, that’s fine, but from my experience seeing my wife make her Ninja Creami pints with plant-based milks, they definitely need more re-spins to achieve a similar smoothness. Additionally, while the final product is pretty smooth, it doesn’t compare to using dairy milk. To substitute the cream, you could use coconut cream to have that smooth and rich texture.
How Do I Get a Soft Serve Ice Cream Texture?▼
There are two important components in achieving a delicious soft-serve ice cream at home with the Ninja Creami:
- Right ingredients: The ingredients that you use will definitely be critical in getting the soft serve ice cream frozen hot chocolate base for the McFlurry. When you look at the nutrition information for the Vanilla Cone on the McDonald’s Canada’s menu, it is simply made with milk and sugar. Since we don’t have a fancy powerhouse ice cream machine, I’m also going to add some heavy cream to “help” out with the smoothness and richness of our homemade McFlurry. As for the sugar, I’m using maple syrup to make this a little more Canadian!
- The re-spin function: The Re-Spin button will certainly be your best friend in getting the ice cream super smooth and soft. You will need at least a second spin, but depending on the type of milk you used to make your base, you could need two or even three more spins until you get the desired result.
What if I Have a Powdery Texture after the First Spin?▼
This is totally normal! All you’ll need to do is keep re-spinning and trust the process - you’ll get the smooth ice cream after either one or more re-spins depending on the type of milk and cream used in your ice cream base.
Does the Pint Really Have to Be Frozen for 24 Hours?▼
This is such a frequently asked question and has the Internet pondering like crazy! All of the official guidelines posted by Ninja recommend that you freeze the pint for the full 24 hours. This causes lots of discussion and debate online with mixed opinions.
Being as objective as possible, I’ve always followed the recommendation of following the 24 hour freezing period recommendation. I’ve read and seen instances online where people have frozen their pints for only 12 hours. In fact, my wife forgot to make her creami for breakfast one evening and also froze it for 12 hours. She actually liked that it was more of a Wendy’s Frosty texture rather than ice cream. Now, could you get away with this regularly? Not sure! It could increase the wear and tear of your Ninja Creami machine, since the blades do require the frozen base to do the processing properly. When the pint isn’t entirely frozen, then you don’t have an even surface for the blades to work.
As you’ll see with this homemade McFlurry recipe, freezing for 24 hours or more (I actually had my base frozen for nearly a week before spinning!) will definitely result in some incredible soft serve ice cream. Now, if you’re in a situation where you’re making your frozen hot chocolate base at 9 pm the night before and you want dessert the next day at 7 pm, I’m sure you’ll be totally fine! The most important thing is to ensure that the base is entirely frozen so that the machine can work properly, which requires the base to be entirely frozen. If your freezer froze the base perfectly in less than 24 hours, than a few hours less than 24 should not cause any issues! You can also use a “power freeze” feature that comes with your freezer to expedite the process.
More Tips for a Better Than McDOnald’s McFlurry!
- Make sure to gently warm the milk to slowly melt the chocolate and stir often using a spatula or a whisk to ensure the milk does not scald while heating.
- The richness of the hot chocolate based can be adjusted by controlling the amount of espresso/instant coffee powder, sweetener (maple syrup) or even the type of sweetener by substituting maple syrup with honey or table sugar or even Splenda or Stevia for a no-calorie option.
- Adding a pinch of salt can also help enhance and highlight the chocolatey flavour.
- If you have it on hand, finish your McFlurry with Dutch processed cocoa, as it is indeed richer than regular cocoa powder. That’s what I used here!
- To get the creamiest texture in the McFlurry, ideally you will use full-fat dairy milk.While you can definitely use lower fat dairy products or even plant-based milks, but you may need more re-spins, and the taste and texture overall may differ.
- If you want to make this recipe in the Ninja Creami Deluxe ice cream maker, use the recipe card at the bottom of this post to scale the recipe by 1.5 times.
Tools Needed
- Saucepan
- Ninja Creami ice cream maker
- Extra Ninja Creami pints
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Ramekins
- Whisk
- Small sieve
Ingredients for Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry
Scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD or by press the “Jump to Recipe” button to see all ingredients and their quantities and to save the recipe for later. The recipe card will also allow you to scale the ingredients based on how many pints of this McDonald’s McFlurry recipe you want to make. By default, the ingredients listed here will yield one pint for the regular Ninja Creami model.
For the Frozen Hot Chocolate Ice Cream Base
- Milk: I used whole milk.
- Heavy cream: Also referred to as “heavy whipping cream.”
- Baker’s chocolate: I used unsweetened baker’s chocolate because we’ll be adding sweetness with the maple syrup. You could do semi-sweet if you like, but to be honest with you unsweetened will be just fine here since we are going to add sweetness with maple syrup! You could just reduce the amount of maple syrup if you are using a semi-sweet chocolate or even milk chocolate.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: Added for extra chocolate delight to the frozen hot chocolate ice cream base.
- Espresso powder or instant coffee: Enhances the chocolate flavour in the base. If you plan on eating your McFlurry in the evening, I recommend you use decaf so that this treat doesn’t keep you up all night!
- Vanilla extract: For an amazing aroma in hot chocolate and for ice cream!
- Maple syrup: Inspired by Canadian hot chocolate, maple syrup is our essential sweetener!
For the Mix-Ins and Toppings
- Cereal: I’m using the chocolate cereal by Magic Spoon to finish off our McFlurry for more chocolate goodness and a little bit of a crunch! We’ll add some as a mix-in for the ice cream and then add some more for garnish.
- Marshmallows: As the McDonald’s McFlurry describes, mini marshmallows are swirled into the ice cream to give that hot chocolate feeling!
- Cocoa powder: A final dusting for garnish.
How to Make Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry in the Ninja Creami
Pour the milk in a saucepan and turn on the heat to medium. Add the chocolate chips, unsweetened chocolate and warm gently while stirring often until the chocolate is molten.
Add the heavy cream, espresso/instant coffee, vanilla extract and maple syrup and stir well. Heat and mix until well combined and steaming. Taste and adjust for sweetness.
Pour this hot chocolate base in the 1 pint container. Freeze at a level spot for at least 24 hours.
Insert the frozen creami treat to the Ninja Creami machine and select the Ice Cream setting.
Once the machine stops, you may notice that the base is powdery. Select the Re-Spin setting to make the ice cream creamy.
Create a well in the centre and add in two thirds of the Magic Spoon chocolate cereal. Put the lid back on the container and select the +Mix-In setting.
Remove the container from the machine and garnish with marshmallows and the remaining cereal.
Add a sprinkle of cocoa powder and enjoy!
Storing Leftover McFlurry
If you don’t finish your homemade McFlurry, use a spoon to level out the top of the ice cream base and re-freeze. You need to level out the top in order for the ice cream to freeze evenly and to prevent the “hump” that forms on top. When you want to eat your high protein ice cream again, simply spin the pint on the Ice Cream setting, and re-spin as needed until it reaches the desired texture.
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