Amazon.com Customer Reviews
Makes great ice-cream - follow these tips! - Review written on September 27, 2008
Rating: 5 out of 5
4 customers found this review helpful.
I've owned this ice-cream maker for a month and just love it! To avoid the problems other reviewers have experienced, just follow these tips (some posted by other reviewers too):
1) Freeze the bowl with a bag of ice cubes in it (thanks for the tip, Cynthia Nelson). It worked for me, and now I only need to freeze it overnight (instead of 48 hours each time I wanted to use it).
2) Use a blender to mix all ingredients! It's easier to pour from the blender jar into the ice-cream machine, and the sugar is properly mixed and melted into the heavy cream.
3) For fruit-flavored ice cream, use frozen fruits instead of fresh fruit puree, or you can buy fresh fruits and cut them up and freeze them. Blend away as you would if you were making a smoothie. I did this and compared it to using fresh fruit puree and found that the "smoothie" mixture chills and thickens faster in the machine (10 - 15 mins); whilst the fresh fruit puree mixture tends to take about 30 mins or longer and yields more crystals when the mixture is frozen.
4) Put a small bag of ice on top of the opening of the transparent lid - use the bag of ice cubes that you put into the bowl in the freezer. It helps with chilling the mixture faster while it is being churned. Mine did not melt nor drip into the mixture.
5) Put an empty glass container in the freezer before you start making the ice-cream mixture. Use it to store the ice-cream. I use a Pyrex bowl with its lid as glass chills faster than plastic.
I modified a recipe I found online, and get awesome creamy ice cream which doesn't get frozen hard like a rock even when it's been in the freezer for 2 - 3 days! You can, of course cut down on the sugar or use fat-free products or artificial sweeteners (which I haven't tried - I believe natural is better than those chemicals in artificial sweeteners. Our bodies can work off the sugar, but the chemicals stay in our system!)
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup Half & Half or evaporated milk
1 - 1.5 cups frozen strawberries or any other frozen fruit
1 + 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)
Put everything in the blender and blend until the ingredients are well-mixed. Turn on the ice-cream machine and pour the mixture in. Once the mixture thickens and has a soft-serve or thicker consistency, turn off the machine. Scoop and serve, or pour and scrape the mixture out with a rubber/silicon spatula into your chilled glass container and freeze for about an hour or so.
Makes the most perfect Pina Colada! - Review written on August 12, 2008
Rating: 5 out of 5
The recipe had to be adjusted a bit but its perfect for this machine.
12oz. Pineapple juice
1/2 c. Milk (gives it a more fluid consistancy)
1/2 c. Heavy Cream (no ice, this freezes well)
1 c. Cream of Coconut
1-2 tablespoons of white sugar(depends on taste
Cherries
Parrot Bay Coconut Rum
Put the pineapple juice in a large bowl, and add sugar and stir until absorbed. Then add the milk, cream, and cream of coconut and stir well.
Retrieve the frozen bowl and assemble the machine. Turn it on and pour the mix slowly into the machine. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the right consistancy.
This is the vergin part, however if you want it with rum, than your best bet is with Parrot Bay Coconut Rum (preferably cold when added) add to taste. Add Cherry.
Variations can include, banana and or orenge.
This is the machine out of four that I have tried that makes a perfect consistancy with so little freezing time of the bowl. I will admit that I keep it in my extra freezer which is colder than my main one, but the bowl was good and frozen in about 7 hours. The booklet says 6 hours is minimal but I gave it an extra hour just to be sure.
The recipe in the booklet for pina colada's is out of a single mix can. So this can give some ideas, I hope you like this as much as my friends and family.