This is a fantastic little ice cream maker. It's not for a large (or even medium) family, as it will only make about 3 servings of icecream (maybe four with cake). If it ever goes on sale again for $10 or $15, I'll probably pick up a couple more for gifts.

Anyway, for those who have one, or are about to get one, here's a tip to make the ice cream making a bit faster:

Make a 6x batch of 2-egg "base". It'll take a dozen eggs (yolks only), about three cups of sugar, and 2 cups of milk (quantites are from memory - just look in the booklet that comes with the maker and take the "averages"). Cook it to 170 degrees - don't let it get too hot or you'll have sweet milky scrambled eggs. Let it cool a bit, then portion the mixture out into six zip-lock bags. Stuff those in the freezer for up to 3-4 months (they probbaly won't last that long anyway). It won't freeze solid, and will be liquid enough to mix after about 5-10 minutes of sitting on the counter. As a bonus, it's easier to cook the mixture without over-cooking it with the larger recipe.

To make ice cream, grab a bag from the freezer and set it on the counter. Now, grab your 1/2c of whipping cream and whip it up. I use a hand mixer with a baloon whisk attachement and whip up the cream right in the ice cream maker bowl, though it takes a little practice to do so without making a mess. Then, add your flavorings to the bagged mix (use the blender for fruit) and then fold it in with the whipped cream. Assemble the mixer with the ingredients and pop it into the freezer. For simple recipes like vanilla, eggnog, chocolate, and mint - those that just get flavors stirred in - it'll take 10 minutes tops to get the ice cream going, and with very little clean up.

Don't worry about the 3 eggs vs 2 eggs for the mix (the vanilla recipe calls for 3) - it will taste just as good as the original.

The Panasonic BH-941P Ice Cream Maker is a small machine that makes about 1.5 cups of ice cream or sorbet at a time. It comes with a stainless steel metal bowl, a motor (that you can remove from the lid for easy cleaning), and a removable paddle. The box also includes a recipe book, although experienced users will enjoy experimenting with new flavors. Replacing most of the heavy cream with yogurt is especially yummy.

For adults, the Panasonic BH-941P Ice Cream Maker makes a great margarita. Place mixer, alcohol, and liquids in the ice cream maker. Put it in the freezer before you start cooking dinner. By the time dinner's ready or your guests arrive, instant cocktails or dessert. Yum!

Overall, this machine is easy to use, easy to clean, and - if you follow the recipes or create your own viable ones - makes the most delicious ice cream you'll ever taste. The ice cream or sorbet will stay conveniently fresh in the bowl, stored in your freezer until you're ready to enjoy it.

I've had this ice cream maker for about 5 months now. There are many great features of this ice cream maker:
- it's tiny
- it doesn't require planning in advance
- it's inexpensive
Also, I have found that if you follow the included recipes, the ice cream is delicious and very easy to make.

The reason I'm giving the ice cream maker a 3 rather than a 5 is that somehow other recipes don't seem to work very well in it. I think it's because the recipes included in the box generally require you to whip a lot of air into the batter (in the form of whipped cream), and any recipe that doesn't use a sufficient amount of whipped cream just doesn't turn out very well. What's the point of buying an ice cream maker if you can't make all kinds of wacky flavors?

My family loves this little machine! It is one of my favorite purchases this year! The Icecream is some of the VERY BEST we've ever eaten anywhere. Our favorite so far is Raspberry. We're having so much fun experimenting with different Flavors. I just put a batch of cookies and Cream in the freezer for tomorrow.

Some people hate the fact that it's so small. I love that. We can look forward to a Wonderfully flavored scoop of ice cream without
feeling the guilt of going back for seconds and thirds.

I also don't mind that it takes 5 hours. Some things are just worth the wait. If someone is that impatient for icecream go buy a 1/2 gallon at the store, I'll wait for mine to churn in the freezer lol :)

The price and enthusiastic reviews of this ice cream maker led me to purchase it. I was amazed to read about how difficult expensive, "better" ice cream makers seem to be to use, with their precooling of the core and the ingredients. Why anyone would want all that fuss escapes me. With this maker, I pull it out of the cabinet, pour hot ingredients into it and pop it the freezer. I've only tried the recipes from the book, and the plain old vanilla is rich and creamy and scrumptious -- I was shocked to find that my first batch of ice cream out of this thing was so perfect and flavorful, right up there with premium ice creams like Ben and Jerry's. I recommend avoiding the egg-free recipe; the result is icy and not particularly tasty.

We LOVE this ice cream maker. Not only do you make up a batch of scrumptious delight, but, once you put it in the freezer, you can forget about it until serving time. The recipes given in the instruction manual work beautifully and we've converted other recipes to work as well. My only complaint would be that it only makes 3 1/2 cups, so, if you're making it for company, keep that in mind.

This device is just fantastic! The perfect (small) size for making a little ice cream now and then. Extremely easy to clean (a big bonus!) and absolutely trivial to use.

I have not been at all dissapointed with it.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the only hitch is that it uses "wierd" batteries.

But whatever. Great for the price, I am very pleased with this machine.

This little item is wonderful. I have made orange, chocolate, mocha and vanilla. They were all wonderful. It is easy to 'sub evaporated milk for the cream and have a good low fat ice cream.

This is a very good ice cream maker. It is fast and the ice cream comes out as ice cream, not as milk mush (like some of the other makers these days). It uses batteries so you can put it directly in the freezer. The only real con is that it is very small and makes only enough ice cream for two people (one serving each). I recommend the product highly though.

This small ice cream maker is just right for a single person or a couple. It is fun to experiment with various recipes and anticipate the result. I am really enjoying it.

Should be sold in a toy store. It's not a real appliance. Very little difference between freezing the ingredients in a dish and freezing them in this ice cream maker. I have many great products made by Panasonic. I'm surprised they put their name on this one. Recipes require mixing, cooking, whipping, cooling in ice baths, and chilling in the refrigerator for hours before even putting the ingredients in this joke. Then your freezer needs to be half empty so no food comes close to this thing while it's in there. Maybe it's just a ploy to sell esoteric lithium batteries. I'd return it, but two-way shipping costs would negate any refund. Mine is going in the trash. Can't even use the batteries for anything else. Worst Amazon.com purchase I've ever made. Gave it one star because zero was not a choice. Save your money. Buy a quart of Haagen Dasz.

This ice cream maker is the first one I have ever had and it is right one for us. My wife and myself only taste ice cream once for a while. But I have 2 little kids and we don't want them to eat too much ice cream. Also we consider most of ice cream in the market are not healthy. That is the reason I bought this one to make 3 - 4 cups healthy ice cream and it doesn't disappoint us. The good parts of this machine are the size just right for my family need, easy to operate, the material of machine are neat and solid (typical Japanese product). Only one small problem is it is not easy to get ice cream since the container is too small. I recommend this product if you have same needs as my family.

I like this ice cream maker very much. It is easy to use and the ice cream turns out great. I've never owned an ice cream maker before and this one for sure was worth it. We been trying differnt recipes, except the sugar amount (I don't like it when it is too sweet), everything else was really simple to fowllow.

I bought this ice cream maker because I liked the price and, as a single woman, I didn't need a big machine that would make gallons of ice cream. Just a scoop or so is all I need (makes up to 2-3 cups). I never imagined that this little machine would make the best ice cream I've ever had! Rich, super creamy, so easy to make! After a quick preparation of ingredients I pop it into the freezer and in a few hours, I'm in ice cream heaven! Excellent recipes included. This machine is so perfect, I'm buying a few more for my single girlfriends for Christmas! They'll love it! Makes great low-fat, sugar-free ice cream and yogurt-based ice creams too. I love that I can control what goes into it. Replacement batteries are easy to find and much cheaper by the dozen on eBay! Buy this awesome little machine. You'll never buy store bought ice cream again!

He comprado varias de estas pequeñas y maravillosas maquinitas de hacer helados, la primera para mi y dos mas para personas que se enamoraron de los sabrosos helados que he hecho.
El rendimiento de las baterias es increible, es facil de lavar y esta muy bien hecha.
Si deseas comprar una economica y buena maquina de hacer helados esta es la indicada.
Saludos desde Venezuela.

This is a nice little unit that is way too samll. If the unit was bigger and didn't use such expensive batteries I would have recieved 5 stars from me.

Pros
* Good instructions
* Feels well made
* Excellent price when I purchased it.

Cons
* Uses expensive batteries ($5+ each)
* Makes very small quantities - good for a single person

If you have plenty of clear space in your freezer, and if you don't mind frozen desserts that are very, very sweet (because high sugar content promotes smoothness in the final product), then you can very easily use this device to make small quantities of ice cream, sherbet or sorbet. If however you have enough other stuff in your freezer to impede the free flow of cold air, or if you'd like to make a more tart dessert, then you will wind up with an equally tiny quantity of coarse, grainy stuff that you may as well have made in an ice cube tray.

It IS a very clever little device, nevertheless, and worth the price just for that.

First, this is a very tiny unit. Also, it requires 4-5 hours to make the ice cream. Although very inexpensive, it is not a quality product.

I was so excited to receive my new ice cream maker. But to my dismay it needs batteries. I realize batteries are not a big problem, except it is a size I have been able to find.
Can you please let me know where I can purchase batteries for my
new ice cream maker?
Thank you for your help

Penny Chadwick
apenny4all@hotmail.com

The ice cream maker I purchased is a great product. We have enjoyed many batches of ice cream following the recipe booklet that came with it. My grandchildren want to make ice cream when they are here, and it only takes minutes to prepare so we do.

pro: tiny, easily fit into our freezer. Tasty results.
con: tiny, doesn't make very much. Recipes call for egg yolks (hi cholesterol). You must COOK the recipe before the freezer. Tip: place directly on floor of freezer for best results.

I was surprise when I recieved this Ice Cream Maker, it was so small, but after trying a recipe and finding out this was so easy and just the right amount of ice cream for two, I was so happy. I have now tried four more recipes and all I can say is, great, what a nice product and a good price.

This is a nice unit "except" it uses CR-123 batteries, which aren't cheap. Other than that, it's good. You would think that they would use AA batteries, which are more readily available and cheaper. Just my opinion.

We have used the product 2 times since our purchase, and both have been very good experiences. The maker does a nice job. If you want something that only makes a small amount for a tasty treat, this is great. The only negative is that we found the instruction manual to be a bit confusing when it came to recipies other then the basic one. It took us a while to figure out what they were talking about. The product itself, however, works well.

I recieved this and made ice cream with it the next day. VERY EASY to use! I really love it and recommend it to anyone. The best part is you dont have to freeze the maker first. Just follow the recipe and put it in the machine and then put it in the freezer!

The ice cream is delicious; however, I wouldn't recommend making 3 cups - the manual says the battery life lasts only 6 times. However, the 2 cup amount is supposed to last for 20 times. The battery that it uses is fairly expensive to replace.

This product is good in size. Does not take a lot of space in the freezer. It takes huge amount of time to set the ice cream. The quality of the ice cream is also not very satisfying.

Go for an electronic one that does not require refrigeration.

I've only made sorbets in mine, but everybody loves the result. "Mojito" was very popular. The unit is small, good for a small dinner party or just the family. Make sure everything is very cold (almost freezing, or it takes a long time to freeze.

At this price (under $10), it was hard to pass up. It doesn't make a usual tub like you're used to at the store. But, it does make great ice cream for its size. If you're in college or just have a small fridge/freezer, this would be PERFECT!

When I got this, my initial reaction was, wow so small and mmMmm ice cream, But once i took it out of the box i noticed it was battery operated. So basically u have to put the ingredients into the maker and put it into the freezer. Buying the ingredients are just as tasking as picking up ice cream at the store. Plus I still cant find where and what heavy cream is

I've used this ice cream maker twice in making frozen yogurt. I found it inefficient, and the resulting product was hard as a rock afterwards, and I followed the recipe exactly! My biggest issue with this machine, however, is that the battery it requires is 15$, more than what I paid for it. I would like to use it to make regular ice cream to see how it does there, but unfortunately, I can't seem to make the paddle attach properly to the motor anymore. I would probably suggest getting an ice cream maker that's more elaborate, at least with a core that you can put in the freezer, to achieve better results. Buy this if you're a college student like me, on a budget, or only want a cup or two of ice cream. Don't expect quality.

The ice-cream maker runs on 2 lithium batteries
that cost as much as the maker itself.

Instructions and especially recepies are unclear.

It's a nice piece, but would like it to have been alittle larger.other wize it was a nice item.

Sure you can but a half-gallon of ice cream for $1.99 at Rite-aid, but what's the fun in that? This is great if you want to make your own ice cream, and know exactly what goes into it. No more 8 syllable ingredients in your ice cream. So far I've only tried the ingredients that came with the ice cream maker and it's very good. You can also adjust the amount of sugar you put in to control the kids' level of hyper-ness and hygiene. If you're buying this to save money, just shop at rite-aid. If you want to try your hand at making your own ice cream, this is the perfect item for your kitchen, or even as a gift.

This Panasonic uses batteries and fits in your freezer. It doesn't require rock salt or that the bowl be pre-frozen (great! I don't plan ahead). It doesn't make a lot each batch (up to 3 cups). What it does do is make terrific-tasting ice-cream/sorbet in ample amounts for two people or modest-but-adequate amounts for four. We liked it so much we bought four more and gave them to family members (we are not extravagant - the price was THAT low!) and they like the machine too. You can find the batteries cheap online, so don't let that stop you.