Non-compensated product review
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So, a couple weeks ago I received my Cuisinart ice cream maker.
I have already made ice cream with it four times. Yikes! It is just that easy to whip up fresh, homemade ice cream. I so totally love this machine.Y'all have heard me talk of my old ice cream maker. It's the old fashioned bucket style, though mine, unlike my Grandma's, thankfully, is electric and not hand cranked. It makes a fine batch of ice cream, about 4 or 5 quarts I think, but making ice cream means a little preparation. You have to have a large bag of ice on hand - or else use up all of the ice from your ice maker. You have to have rock salt. In other words you have to plan.
And the noise. It is LOUD.
Well, I've been eyeing up these new fangled ones for awhile - the kind that have the bowl you keep in the freezer. The kind that needs no ice. And no salt. And I finally decided to get one.
Well, I gotta say, I love it!! No ice. No salt. Ice cream in a flash. Good ice cream. Pure ice cream you made yourself.
The unit has an insulated freezer bowl containing a cooling liquid that freezes; sort of like those blue bags you put in the freezer to stick in a lunch box. If you clean the freezer bowl right away after using it, wrap it in a plastic bag to prevent freezer burn from forming, then stick it right back in the freezer, it's ready the next time you want to make ice cream. Put the bucket into the outer base, and in just about 30 minutes you can whip up a very tasty soft serve type of ice cream. Or like the bigger buckets, once it has processed you can then stick it in the freezer for a few hours to firm it up to your preference. It really is such a breeze now to make ice cream that I have to say, I am grateful that it only makes 1-1/2 quarts at a time!
The unit comes with a basic recipe book that's really all you need - so far I haven't ventured into sorbets or sherbets or frozen yogurt; I've only made what they refer to as the "quick and easy" recipes - the basic vanilla, strawberry and butter pecan you see in the picture above. All were excellent. There are some cooked versions and even gourmet recipes in the booklet also, like Green Tea Ice Cream and White Chocolate with Chocolate Chunks and Macadamia Nuts, but the basic quick and easy versions were absolutely delicious. The chocolate above was from an ice cream mix that I happened to have in my pantry.
And ... I'm happy to report that while the unit does make some noise, it is certainly nothing like the noise my old bucket makes. Holy moley, when that thing is going you cannot carry on a conversation of any kind. This one hums, but not nearly as loud, and while you may have to juke up the tv volume in the family room a bit, you won't have to yell over this one.
Couple pointers. You really must start with very cold ingredients when you use one of these types of ice cream makers with the frozen bowl. Nothing at room temperature is gonna do it. The first batch I made didn't turn out so well. I had a box of shelf stable 1% milk in the pantry so when I decided to make ice cream, I stuck it in the fridge thinking it would get chilled enough. Well... not so much. It was chilled, but not really very cold and it just didn't work at all. The ice cream did not thicken, the freezer bowl thawed, so I had to chill the ice cream base, refreeze the bucket, and start all over the next day.
But, when you do start with a very chilled base, and the unit runs its 25 minute cycle, the ice cream that comes out of it at the onset is pretty much a soft serve. Now The Cajun {previously known as "The Hubs" who I have decided to call "The Cajun" from now on, because well, he's Cajun} prefers soft serve, but I like my ice cream a bit firmer. Of course, just like with the bigger buckets, you simply freeze it for a bit, or overnight and it firms up wonderfully.
But I discovered something that really helps with that process. When you mix up the ice cream base, take one large bowl, fill it partially with water and ice and stir until it's real cold. Stick a smaller bowl inside, preferably a stainless steel bowl, making sure no water overflows into the smaller bowl. You want the ice water to come up the sides but not pour into your base! Mix the ice cream base right in that smaller bowl. As you stir the ingredients to blend them, the ice keeps the ingredients very cold and gives it a good healthy head start. The end result after the 25 minutes of churning is a much firmer ice cream that you can eat right away, or it takes a much shorter time to firm up better in the freezer.
Also, while we most often have fat free milk in the house, that doesn't work well for ice cream, so be sure that you use either 1% or 2% low fat milk if you want to keep the fat down a bit. Of course full fat is the best, or even better, a combination of full fat and half and half or cream! I tried a mix of half and half and fat free (I know, what a contradiction huh?) with the chocolate mix because that is what I had in the house and while it was good, the texture was definitely off.
I'm really having fun with this unit though and have to say that it is definitely much easier to use than my old bucket one. If you are used to using one of the bucket types, you will find yourself making ice cream, sherbet, and sorbet way more often with this.
Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Depends on whether you view your ice cream bucket half full, or half empty.
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