I remember the first 4th of July picnic our neighbors brought an ice cream maker to our house. We had the neighborhood pool, and all picnics took place in our backyard. Our neighbors, however, had something better than a pool. They had a hand-crank ice cream maker. About a half hour after we pour the milky-yellow concoction into the machine and after much cranking, we had truly delicious - if somewhat runny - home made ice cream. I was hooked. I begged my parents for an ice cream maker, but it never appeared.
Then last year while looking through the
Sur la Table Catalog, I found the machine of my dreams. It was the Cuisinart Flavor Duo Frozen Yogurt - Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-40BK. In the catalog, it cost $99 plus tax, shipping and handling. I was drooling over this machine and the ice cream I could make with it, but that was out of my price range. Besides, winter was on the way and even I don't want ice cream in the winter.
Well, I guess that ice cream makers are like DVD players. They start out expensive and come down in price. A recent email from Smartbargains.com caught my eye, however. Here was my dream ice cream maker on sale for $79 with another $20 rebate available. At $59, I could suddenly afford the machine. It arrived last week and I've been experimenting ever since.
The machine's base has a long, low profile. It is made of heavy grade, black plastic and brushed stainless steel. With a slight kidney shape to it, it could sit out on the counter without being obtrusive. Mine, however, will find storage in its original box in the garage when not in use. It's simply too big to just sit out unless I was using it daily.
To prepare for making ice cream, stick the freezing bowls into the freezer. It's recommended that you put them in plastic bags to prevent getting freezer burn when you take them out. I also freeze the paddles inside the bag so that everything is as cold as possible when I start. Freezing takes a minimum of 6 hours. This is not something you're going to just think of at the last minute. If you have freezer space, however, you might want to keep one or both of the bowls in the freezer and ready to go.
Make up your dessert base. The machine comes with a recipe book, but I've found lots of lower calorie recipes on-line. Somehow a recipe that begins with 2 cups whole milk and one cup cream doesn't sound like something we're making in our world of skim milk and non-fat dairy products. Make sure to chill the base well before starting. If you don't, you may defrost the freezing bowl too fast and end up only with cold base.
When you're ready to make ice cream, simply put one or two of the double-insulated one-quart freezing bowls on top of the base. Insert the plastic paddles and place the cover units on. Select the one or two side option, turn on the motor and then pour your mix into the unit through the cover's spout. If you did everything correctly, 20 to 30 minutes later, you have dessert. Remember that store bought desserts tend to have gelatins and stabilizers that make them firmer. If you want a more rigid dessert, you may have to add some of these things. You might also want to invest in a few airtight, plastic one-quart containers for freezing your dessert once it's made. It will set up to a harder consistency then. With sorbets, we've found that adding a single egg white beaten to stiff peaks to the mixture creates a better texture. Be careful, however, as not everyone is comfortable in eating raw egg products.
I really like the fact that I can make two flavors of ice cream at once. With cousins who are allergic to nuts, it's nice to be able to make one ice cream with and one without. Equally nice is the ability in our kosher household to keep one freezing container for milk based desserts and the other for pareve (neutral) desserts such as sorbet.
Each container makes up to one quart of whatever dessert you have in mind. It is possible to make two quarts of the same, or two different items. The biggest drawback to this machine is that it is noisy. This is the equivalent sound as running a mixer or blender for 20 or 30 minutes. This is not something you will want running in the same room where you're holding a dinner party.
The machine is mostly flat surfaces and cleans up easily. The base just gets wiped down. The cover and paddle can go in the top rack of the dishwasher. The bowls need to be allowed to thaw a bit before rinsing with warm soapy water. Make sure that everything is dry before you put it back in the freezer.
I love my new machine. So does everyone else. We've had our neighbor's kids over to make ice cream. The nine year old opted for a pistachio ice cream and the five year old brother opted for apple cider sorbet. (He's not allowed to have milk products.) While the ice cream maker did its thing, we baked cookies. By the time the first batch of cookies was out of the oven and cool enough to eat, the ice creams were done.
I admit that an automatic ice cream maker lacks some of the nostalgia of the old crank models. Still, it's a pleasure to not have to worry about buying ice and salt and sitting around and cranking. This machine will get good use around our house.
It's a pleasure to know what's in the ice cream we're eating, to be able to control the quality of the ingredients and to be able to stick to a diet while still indulging by choosing the recipes wisely.
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If this is too much ice cream maker for you, you might want to check out my review of the
Simac Gelataio Junior Ice Cream Maker
If you would like to read more of my reviews about things for the kitchen that no one really needs, but that you know you want, follow some of these links:
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