Do you actually use it? If you’ve used multiple models, which do you like best? What are your favorite things to make?
I’ve been thinking of purchasing one, but I worry about a dust-gathering kitchen gadget.
The only one I’ve tried didn’t have any active cooling. You just froze a bowl that had a large thermal mass, and the crank was electrically powered. It didn’t work very well.
We have a Cuisinart that works well. We don’t use it a lot, but it makes good ice cream if you follow the directions and make sure the bowl has been in the freezer for a sufficient amount of time. Recently, my wife made nectarine ice cream, and a wonderfully rich vanilla custard (vanilla bean, 6 egg yolks, cream, etc.). Most of the time it sits on a shelf and the bowl lives in the freezer, though.
I just got some popsicle molds, which have been a delightful toy this summer. I’ve made many fruity concoctions!
I have a cuisinart with a bowl that lives in the freezer. I used it last night to make a quart of vanilla ice cream and it was great. I think it was the first time I have used it in about three years, though.
Our Cuisinart was a Christmas present a few years ago. Last time it was used was several months ago but I’ve made ice cream and/or frozen yogurt a few times a year. Those plastic tubs that Blue Bunny comes in get repurposed for storing my ice cream & frozen yogurt.
Another Cuisinart. I got two bowls so I can make another batch while the first one is refreezing.
I have the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. It’s just a bowl with a lot of thermal mass that you put on the stand, and a plastic dasher that fits the bowl. It makes very good ice cream and is simple to use. I store the bowl in the freezer so that I can make ice cream whenever I feel like it, but I have a lot of freezer space.
We’ve got the Cuisinart with the compressor, so you don’t need to prefreeze the bowl. My husband does a fair bit of high end cooking, so it’s used for that. Otherwise we’ve used it a couple of times in the 6 weeks we’ve had it. There’s a batch of strawberry in the freezer right now that is so good, it’s light years from the stuff they call ‘ice cream’ in the shops.
Looks like most folks use the compressorless kind. Maybe the one I tried just want cold enough.
I have that one, and have made two batches of ice cream with it. It’s a lot less messy than the wooden buckets people used when I was little! I don’t have that much freezer space though, so I’ll have to plan ahead next time I use it.
I have the kind that takes ice and rock salt. Got it for my wedding last year. Used it about 5 times.
Also depends on how much fat is in your base; not enough and you’ll have much more cream than ice.
Anyone had success with slushy alcoholic drinks?
Be sure to chill the custard base in the fridge for a few hours before you put it in the mixer. You might also have to adjust your expectations - it’s still going to come out like soft serve. It needs time in the freezer if you want it to be hard.
This seems to be (the answer to) a common misconception – I’ve heard a lot of people complain about their ice cream maker not being able to produce anything more than “soft serve” (usually described as “like a thick milkshake”), not realizing that that’s perfectly normal.
The manual that came with mine did indicate that the ice cream would need freezing afterward if you wanted hard pack, but it doesn’t emphasize it very much. I think they should put that in large letters on the first page, since it seems to be overlooked a lot.
If you think about it, a churn really couldn’t produce a hard pack ice cream directly – the (usually plastic) paddle wouldn’t be strong enough.
I have a Cuisinart with the compressor. Sometimes we use it a bunch, sometimes it’s in the cupboard.
It does work better, IMHO, than freezing the bowls.
I also use for slushy drinks, including margaritas.
If you’re trying to make ice cream that contains alcohol, you don’t want to put in more than a tablespoon.
Yep. As I mentioned in another thread, another trick is to freeze a little bit of the base (about 1/4 cup) in a zipper baggie or an ice cube tray then add it in at the start. It melts back into the base, but it will drop the base’s temperature closer to freezing and really improves the result.
Two other bits of advice: make sure you freeze the heck out of the thermal bowl. I’ve tried it after 7-8 hours a few times, and it really seems to work better if it gets a solid 12+. Also, don’t leave it going once it hits “milkshake” consistency. A couple times I’ve held out hoping to thicken a bit further and wound up with the mix melting back to a more liquid state. This is especially true with lower-fat or thinner bases.
Not so much ice cream. More of a dairy-free beverage. The freezing point stays relatively high over a range of concentrations.
I use a Frost King (similar but not identical to the one in the linked photo; mine is a 4 quart churn, slightly different design on the manual crank). This year I’ve made cherry chocolate chip, banana, butterscotch, and raspberry ice cream. They’ve been quite well received 
