had fun making ice cream and eating it
923892
Works really well....had fun making ice cream and eating it!!
1816284
My 8 year old son got this for christmas and we had a lot of fun with it! It definitely requires some adult supervision especially for the baking and the rock candy. My son had the most fun making the fizzy drinks and learning how to make soda. Although the recipe for the soda doesn't taste that great it was a lot of fun to make and he did learn all about acids and bases. The other great part of this was that these recipes are easy to recreate even if you run out of the supplies that come with the kit. The big test tubes were also fun.
3638184
I was so excited to try this frozen dessert maker and so I froze some bananas.  It was easy to use and the end result was pretty amazing.  It really tasted and felt like ice cream, but without the sugar and fat usually found in ice cream.  But I found I didn't use it that much and didn't have frozen bananas ready when I was ready.  Clean up was fairly easy, but it did take some time to take everything apart and clean it.  I discovered that it was just one more piece of equipment that I had to find room for.  It would be great for someone who used it a lot or had room to store it.  I even added strawberries and other fruits to it which made it even more amazing, but I still didn't use it enough to keep it.
790371
Made some great brownies and hot chocolate
880024
Going to try this with the new ice cream maker I bought for my 5 year old grand daughter. Should be fun to make our own ice cream!
376025
The title comes from a comedian we heard who seemed to be reading my mind. He said that when he got an ice cream maker, he kept looking at random things in the fridge thinking, "I could make ice cream out of that!" (Or something along those lines.) It's great to be able to make whatever flavor you want, even if your tastes are a bit odd, or aren't shared by some ice cream company somewhere. I personally made vanilla, only instead of sugar used honey, and it made a very nice honey ice cream.

The only reason I don't give this product 5 stars is because of the manual crank, which, as many other reviewers have stated, seems to be a bit cheaply made, what with the plastic gears which work well enough when the ice cream is still pretty runny, but as soon as it gets a bit stiff, the manual crank doesn't work nearly so well. But for my 5 year old, the hand crank works fantastically - if it's too hard for him to turn, it's probably time to use the motor again. I started the electric motor going around the same time I started making dinner, and by the time we had pretty much cleaned up from dinner, the motor had turned itself off, and the ice water had continued to freeze it to a rather firm consistency (very similar to the consistency you'd get if buying a quart at the grocery store, and serving it 5 minutes later after driving home).

For those who find their ice cream isn't getting very firm, I've found that in my case I didn't use enough salt. When I actually follow the directions (an inch or two of ice, a cup of salt (or whatever it calls for) more ice, more salt, more ice, more salt) it freezes pretty quickly, even if the mixture isn't that cold to begin with.

I did read one comment where they said they use the motor until it turns off, then the crank until it doesn't turn anymore - for me, by the time the motor had turned off, it was too stiff for the crank to work without slipping. However, for the money, this is a fantastic buy, and the manual bit is nostalgic enough for a few cranks, before deciding to let the motor take care of business. It would be nice if the hand crank were made completely of metal, but when the next step up is about 4 times the price, I'm content with what I got...
3784980
i used this for our company's ice cream social event.  we had our employees play the game and whoever stacked the most scoops won a gift card.  it was FUN and entertaining.  the only set back was that the ice cream scooper would sometimes detach from the handle and you would have to stop the game to put it back in its place.  other than that it was great...
3520183
(I didn't buy this though Amazon, I found it at Target on sale.  Same exact model though.)

Pros:
The 2 bases are solid feeling
Made the ice cream for me pretty well

Cons:
The beater is plastic (but it makes soft serve, so metal isn't necessary and only increases the price)
Kind of a loud motor when it's on.

I picked this up not knowing what to expect.  I opened the box and read the instructions, and thought.. hmm, sounds easy enough.  It really was.  I picked up a couple of quarts of half & half, a quart of heavy whipping cream, and since I have sugar at home I'm set!  (I tried it out with sugar, but you can use stevia/sweet & low/etc)  I whipped together the vanilla base as the instructions say, then in a separate measuring cup I did the cappuccino ice cream individual recipe, mixed 6 ounces of the base & 6 ounces of the individual recipe into the frozen ice cream base and slapped the lid on.  I didn't have to do anything more than that, and I waited.  It did a good job, actually.  I froze the base for a day before using it, and the heavy cream/half & half were both refrigerated beforehand.  I didn't have a chance to refrigerate the finished base any further after putting it together.  I mixed it all together with the individual recipe 6 oz'er and slapped it into the frozen base.  I just tossed on the motorized top, clicked the button, and went about my merry way for 5 minutes.  It wasn't ready at 5 minutes, it took 10 or so minutes total to get to the consistency I wanted.  The plus side was that I could hold it and not melt the ice cream, like so many other plates seem to do hehe

I enjoy it... is it worth it?  It's a non-necessity, a treat, something you buy for yourself whimsically.  Only you can answer that, really.
966164
"Not-Guilty" pleasure!  Creamy frozen desserts with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. It is fun experimenting with variations by adding different fruits, stir-in nuts and flavorings.  The extra effort to scrape out the tube and parts with a thin blade rubber spatula is really no big deal (other reviewers seem to think it is a big deal). Only problem I have had is taking the machine apart to wash it (before first-time use).  Due to a really good gasket and seal, I'm sure.  One other time I forgot to reassemble ALL the parts in my hurry to make a second batch...quickly figured out THAT user error!  I am looking forward to a summer of cool, tasty treats!
4530156
The beginning of the book was a fun tale in how the Ben and Jerry's came to be, and the recipes themselves were fantastic. I have used the base cream recipes they offer and put various spins on ice cream with my own additions and have never been disappointed.
3525805
Took me awhile to finally try this, but im very happy my first time. Blended it with ice, milk, and some sugar. I want to try with either splenda or stevia. Its delicious though.
1891535
Hey, we are having fun with it. Cuts the craving for ice cream all the time.
4698655
Love it... made a great custard ice cream for my daughter's birthday...and my family is still coming around for more! I have to buy another ice bowl lol
4160028
I bought this ice cream maker a few months ago after extensively reviewing the choices available.  I have numerous Cuisinart appliances (a food processor that I got in 1984 and it's still running like new) and have always been pleased with the quality of their products, so based on that and the reasonable price of this maker, I decided this was the one I wanted.

Today I made the second batch of ice cream since buying the machine.  Even though I have the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream book, and another recipe book recently bought here on Amazon, both times I have used recipes out of the booklet included with this maker.  The first batch was chocolate and it was scrumptious; this batch was fresh strawberries and again, it turned out wonderfully.  I could have eaten the whole thing in one sitting, but of course, I don't.  I might someday, though.

The booklet manual is skimpy on instructions but there is not much to instruct.  The machine is very easy to operate.  Just plunk in the freezer bowl (and yes, I do store it in the freezer when not in use which is the most convenient way of storing it if you have room in the freezer), place the paddle in the bowl ring-end up, put on the top and start the machine.  You then pour the premade ice cream mixture into the machine.  That last part was a step I forget this second time, and the book is adamant about it being necessary to have the machine running before pouring in the milk mixture.  Even though I made the mistake of putting in the mixture and then turning on the machine, the ice cream churned up nicely.  It needs to churn roughly 15-20 minutes.

The noise was quite noticeable the first time.  This second time, though, it didn't seem as loud.  It isn't exactly quiet but it's not uncomfortably loud either.  Not a problem during the 15-20 minutes the machine is running.

The initial result is soft-frozen ice cream, with a wonderful texture that you'll be tempted to eat right then and there. Kind of like pudding-ice cream, or soft serve.  You can eat a bunch at this point, because the 1-1/2 quart bowl makes up a lot of ice cream.  I put the majority of it in a freezer-safe glass bowl with an air tight lid (Rubbermaids work really well for this).  The next time I make a batch, though, I'm going to sit the storage bowl over a pan of ice cubes so that none of the ice cream melts before I finishing scooping all of it into the storage bowl.

Once you freeze it, it's just as good---no, it's vastly better, than store bought ice cream.  It stores well in the freezer.  Between my husband and me, we go through the batch within a week or so, eating small portions.

Now my only hope is that this wonderful little machine holds up for years & years, like my other Cuisinart machines have done, although I don't expect it to last thirty years like my food processor has.
3253887
So much fun!  I started making the yogurt in a big bowl instead of the individual jars, it seemed easier to just dish some out of the fridge that way.  I started with whole milk (36oz whole milk, 6oz yogurt, 1/2c sugar - heat milk to 180, cool to 110 add yogurt & sugar, put in yogurt maker for 8hrs) then moved to 2% milk (36oz whole milk, 6oz yogurt, 1/2c sugar, 1/2 powdered milk - heat the milk, cool the milk, add other stuff, put in yogurt maker for 9 hours) then skim (same recipe as 2% except about 12 hrs of cooking).  My next thing to try will be not heating the milk and see how that turns out.  Very easy to use, and fun too!
3910910
I'm having a lot of fun with chocolate and the knife mold
2150824
My kids love this and the ice cream is pure heaven.  We have a great time as a family making ice cream now :)