Cuisinart ICE-45 Mix It In Soft Serve 1-1/2-Quart Ice-Cream Maker, White
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Cuisinart ICE-45 Mix It In Soft Serve 1-1/2-Quart Ice-Cream Maker, White
Customer Review: Fun Gadget
Summary: 4 Stars
First, it's a little large to sit on your counter: you will be storing it in a closet, or somewhere other than your countertop unless you have a huge kitchen. Second, unless you are a sucker for toppings, you will not be impressed by the mix in feature - my mistake, I thought they were added in during mixing the ice cream. Third: it's fun. Looking into the window ever so often to check the status is really neat - can't beat the suspense ("is it ready yet??").
It was a good price ($69) with a good name so I decided to try it. I have a stand mixer with an attachment which works but is very messy & time-consuming. I wanted something simple & I like this very much so far. I have had it for about 2 weeks & we have tried a number of recipes from the book. It makes soft ice-cream, frozen yogurt, sorbets & sherbets. I am currently using the recipes unaltered but I think I will be experimenting soon. So far, 17-20 minutes from start to finish seems about right and one recipe actually firmed up even more as we let it sit idle in the machine while we sampled the first little bit in a cone. I will try longer times, as many people here have suggested. So far, I have prepared the mixtures in advance (using a standard blender) & then chilled them but only as a matter of convenience. I can see why it would be helpful to the process, though, to keep them as cold as possible before mixing. Once it is done & you store leftovers, the ice cream becomes quite hard in the freezer & you would be wise not to put in in a cheap breakable plastic container for freezer storage (did that - broke it). Use something sturdier meant for food storage because it does get quite hard in the freezer. Leave it out on the counter for a few minutes and it will be quite dishable.
If it continues to be as much fun as it has been (& to work well without breaking), I will probably invest in a second freezer bowl for when we have company or a party. The novelty alone is worth it!
I only give 4 stars because of the size of it for storage - I will need a tall, empty shelf somewhere for sure!
Customer Review: Fun machine for soft serve experiments
Summary: 4 Stars
I've enjoyed using this machine for over a month now, generally a couple of times a week. All of the prior reviews with suggestions helped quite a bit, especially the recommendation to get Ben & Jerry's book of ice cream recipes. Those recipes have turned out the best for me; I particularly like the recipe with raw eggs as an emulsifier. I understand that many are reluctant to use raw eggs these days but, fortunately, the salmonella-laden eggs didn't make it to my market! The eggs give the ice cream better consistency.
As a kid, I briefly worked at a soft serve ice cream stand, where I served up cones from a commercial-grade machine. The Cuisinart Ice-45 is NOT that kind of machine, so I did not expect it to deliver the same consistency. It takes about 22-25 minutes to reach a consistency I like, and at that point, it basically plops out of the machine in spurts 2-3" long. I wish it flowed steadily, but it seems to be a function of the stirring blade--as it goes around inside the machine, it blocks the flow briefly. That's my chief complaint about the machine.
That said, I like that I can make fresh ice cream with fresh ingredients so I know what I'm eating. Sometimes I just use it at milkshake/Wendy's Frosty consistency. Often I chop up some fresh peaches in a bowl and top it with the dollops of ice cream dropping out of the machine. I've put the leftovers in containers to freeze - the consistency isn't so great when I hard freeze it, but the flavor is great.
I haven't had trouble freezing the bowl -- I've left it for 12 hours and it's frozen solid, but I'm sure the time depends on the freezer temperature. As long as I wash and freeze the bowl immediately after making ice cream, it's ready again the next day. If I had to serve a crowd, I'd buy a second & third bowl. Since the bowl is about half the price of the machine, I haven't bothered yet.
Overall, a good product for a small price.
Customer Review: Wonderful Soft Serve Machine! Totally worth the money
Summary: 5 Stars
We just used this machine tonight, and we are VERY pleased with it.
I read through all the 48 other comments on this page before buying, and was a little daunted by the negatives, but we promised the kids to get the machine, so we took the plunge.
Thought we would need a second bowl since we have 7 kids, but found it not so. We used regular sized Keebler Waffle Cones, piled to the top but not beyond, and everyone got one (even Mom and Dad) with a couple of the bigger eaters getting seconds.
Here are my observations:
1) The bowl gets plenty cold if your freezer is plenty cold. Folks down below who claim they had cold freezers and their bowls didn't get cold enough ... don't know what to say about 'em. 'Cold' is one of those things that either it is, or it ain't. Enough said.
I started dispensing after 15 minutes, because I was afraid the bowl would start warming up, but as I got to the last cones, I noticed the ice cream continued to harden and look more "professional" as it dispensed. Next time I'll wait until 20.
After the bowl had been out of the deep freeze for 40 minutes, we rinsed it in HOT water, and the water froze solid to the bowl. That's cold.
2) The mix in thingy worked perfectly. I couldn't believe how neat-o that was. Follow the directions on sizes, and you won't go wrong.
3) I took the advice downstream and avoided the Cuisinart recipes. We just used our family favorite old fashined vanilla, with the raw eggs, flour, salt, sugar, milk, and cream. No problems. I made our usual 6 or so quarts that we put in the full-sized ice cream freezer, so we have left-overs for tomorrow.
Final analysis: Cold freezer, follow directions. That simple. Sucker works like a charm. I had kids hugging me and thanking me for buying the machine - it doesn't get much better than that.
Customer Review: be prepared
Summary: 4 Stars
bought this a couple of months before the holidays with the intention of experimenting with it so I could use it on Christmas. Found good recipes for vanilla (no eggs) and chocolate ice cream, on Alton Browns website. Keep in mind the ice cream comes out as soft serve, but can harden in the freezer, overnight. The machine is very easy to clean, it all comes apart. The critical error I made was not giving the freezer bowls, (i bought an extra) enough time to freeze. Made the chocolate the day before Christmas (came out perfect) so we could serve vanilla in the machine on Christmas, the freezer bowls were only in the deep freeze at that point (at 5 below) for approx. 20 hrs, not enough time to refreeze the bowls solidly, which we didn't discover until we put the vanilla ice cream base in the machine, it never hardened enough to serve in a dish or cone, more the consistency of creme fraiche, tasted great , perfect topping for other deserts, but not the impact I was hoping for. My fault for not allowing enough time for the freezer bowls to recover. However, keep in mind that if your freezer won't freeze the bowls properly, you won't get the results you want. Most home freezers, (not deep freezers) are between 5-8 degrees, usually not cold enough to freeze an ice cream bowl. Before you spend $125 on this machine, buy a freezer thermometer for $5 and make sure you have a freezer in your home that goes below zero. If so, have fun!Customer Review: A thorn in my side
Summary: 1 Stars
I HATE this machine. I wish I could return it. The biggest problem I have with it is that the machine has to be assembled just right or else the unfrozen ice cream leaks out. Every time I've used it, I've ended up with a big puddle all over the counter. I know that it's operator error and not anything to do with the machine, but it is still enough to make me want to get rid of this piece of junk.
Next, in order for it to dispense, the ice cream has to be barely frozen. Imagine if you were to have a frozen bowl of ice cream that has been left out for about 20 minutes and is starting to turn into a soupy mess. That's the consistency it has to be in order to dispense. That's no fun-- it totally melts in about 30 seconds. If it gets any more frozen than the soupy mess previously described, it is too thick to come out of the dispenser.
That leads me to my next complaint-- the canister doesn't hold a freeze long enough to do much good. This is probably because it has to be so runny in order to dispense. I was under the impression when I got this that it could be used as a regular ice cream maker if you didn't intend to use it as a soft serve machine. Wrong!
Most of my complaints are my own fault since I failed to completely understand the capabilities of this product before purchase. Before purchasing this, be sure that you understand exactly what it is that you are buying.