Ice cream maker

[Chris J Dixon]

I reckon this is DIY, and there is a lot of experience out there.

As I now have additional freezer capacity, it would be feasible to consider an ice cream maker, of the pre-cooled bowl variety.

Looking in Which, and at Amazon reviews, there seems to be a polarity of opinion, with many high and low scores.

The Which best buy still gets some really critical comments.

As I have a Kenwood Chef, I could use their gadget, but quite a few folk reckon the plastic blade soon broke, and it costs twice as much as the Andrew James one.

There are also some more general complaints that cleaning is difficult, and a fair amount of mixture is wasted.

Is this one of those pieces of kit that gets used once and then collects dust at the back of the shelf?.

Chris

[Ferretygubbins]

I had a Magimix version of the pre-cooled bowl type. It worked well but you did need to know a day before wanting to make ice cream (or just keep the bowl in the freezer all the time). Mixtures involving alcohol (Kahlua and Amaretto was a favourite of ours) would not totally freeze and would need post-mix freezing to firm them up. The biggest drawback is that you are limited to producing only one mix per day. It is probably not something that you'll use every week but the homemade ice cream is far creamier, richer and better than shop-bought.

I can recommend the Ben & Jerry's recipe book -

Simple recipes that hit the right spots

I used the Magimix for a few years before it was replaced with a Cuisinart self-freezing model.

Cheers

Mark

[Adrian]

Not ice cream maker, but we've got a few pieces of Andrew James kitchen gear - and am definitely impressed, to the point that they're the first brand I look at now.

Only you can really answer that...

[Nick]

From experience, yes.

[Reentrant]

Ours gets used occasionally, normally after a Costco trip where we pick up a 2 litre carton of double cream (£1.99 last time). The results are excellent but our machine is very noisy for the 20 or so minutes it takes.

[Mike Barnes]

Our Kenwood Chef attachment gets used quite a lot and has proved perfectly satisfactory.

[No, Thunderbird, I haven't forgotten to attach a file.]

[Gordon Henderson]

It depends on how much you like ice cream ;-)

We got one of these a few years ago:

Not sure it cost us that much at the time, however... The batteries do seem to last a few months of regular use.

Basically, you whip up the mix (and I prefer a traditional egg custard + whipped cream approach) then pour it into the bowl, put the paddle and lid and motor unit on-top then put it in the freezer. The paddle gives it a stir every 30 seconds or so, then when it's frozen solid it turns itself off.

The ice cream then freezes solid - as it would if you left it in the freezer. The process does take a couple of hours but you can hear when its stopped.

I tend to "fire & forget", then transfer it to the fridge half an hour before serving - if I remember.

And as someone else suggested - the Ben & Jerrys book is good too!

Use the kenwood to whip up the cream then add to the egg custard... (I have a K-Mix, but I tend to use a hand-held electric mixer)

Gordon

[polygonum]

We too got one of them. Works reasonably well within its limitations. Best recipe: Absinthe ice cream based on a standard custard.

[Lobster]

On 05 Sep 2014, "Nick" grunted:

+1. As it happene ours went to the dump a few weeks back after not having been used in years.

It was SWMBO's toy, not mine, but I think the main issue was that freezer space is at a premium here, and as the (large) bowl needed to be pre-cooled in the freezer, that meant either (a) permanantly clogging up a large chunk of freezer space by storing it in there so it's always ready for use, or (b) remembering in advance that you wanted to use the thing and then finding enough space for it in the freezer, which was never easy.

YMMV, of course

[meow2222]

The pre-freeze type we got was hopelessly opimistic about its freezing ability. You need to put largely prefrozen ingredients in. I forget the brand.

The big upside is you can make any type you like, including relatively healthy ice creams. The downside is the time/hassle of making it, and the need to prefreeze the bowl.

NT

[mark]

We have the Kenwood Chef bowl one. Works well if you freeze everything including the paddle. Lot of fuss just to make a litre of ice cream (if that).

Ice cream is top notch especially if done with double cream. Trouble is that the effort to volume of ice cream ratio is too high so it hasn't been used much.

Probably better to get one that is dedicated.

mark

[Johny B Good]

Given the current obesity epidemic here in the UK (let alone that of the long standing one in the US ofA), along with the increased incidence of Diabetes, would that be such a "Bad Thing"?

Considering the risk of it going the same way as "The Bread Making Machine", probably not. :-(

[Jon Connell]

Depends upon whether you're in the habit of putting it straight back in the freezer after you use it. I could never get into that habit, but then I have one of those fancy refrigerating ones now. I make ice cream about once a fortnight.