 Delivers on what it promises - just make sure you understand what it promises! |
| Review Date: June 23, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Dwain M. Gleason, Kansas City, MO United States |
In reading the reviews for this product, I've noticed that some people may have been expecting something more than what Cuisinart is selling. Having used this unit several times now, here are my impressions and thoughts.
- The unit uses a freezer bowl to freeze the product. That means that the bowl MUST be frozen solid and the product MUST be very well chilled, otherwise you will not get good results. We have just kept our freezer bowls in the deep freeze when not in use so that we can make ice cream fairly quickly. It's probably best to mix up your soft serve mix at least an hour in advance and put it in the coldest part of your fridge or (as another reviewer suggested) in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to get it as cold as possible without prematurely freezing it.
- The freezer bowl doesn't have a huge capacity. It can make "10-12" servings - if your servings are small. 6-8 is probably more like it. If you want more, make certain you purchase an additional bowl and keep it frozen.
- The instructions on time expectations generally say 10-15 minutes, and this can be true if you chill the ice cream mixture very thoroughly. Otherwise it will take longer, probably more like 15-20 minutes.
- The first serving or so may be fairly soupy - I have found that I can dispense some into a cup and then re-add that into the top of the bowl.
- The "mix-ins" really don't mix in to the soft serve at all, they are really topping dispensers. If you're expecting something like a DQ Blizzard, it's not the same. Also, don't over-fill (or pack in) the mix in bins. I've had good luck with chopped peanuts, sprinkles and the mini M&Ms.
The differences between this unit and a more conventional ice cream freezer are mainly that this unit has a freezable bowl vs. a bowl that is placed in a mix of ice and rock salt. That means it is a little more convenient, but lacks the capacity of the conventional freezer. Our ice cream freezer makes about twice as much ice cream as the soft serve, but it is much louder, generally requires more clean up and doesn't dispense the product. On the other side, I think a conventional freezer has more versatility if you are making things like frozen custards that set up harder than soft serve. Finally, the freezer just isn't really as much "fun" as this one is which has real appeal if you've got kids in the family.
Overall, I've really enjoyed this gadget - but I did some research first and made certain I understood what I was buying. This is NOT like the soft serve dispensers in restaurants - but it's very nice for a treat on a summer afternoon.
|
Wonderful Soft Serve Machine! Totally worth the money
|
| Review Date: October 19, 2007 |
| Reviewer: L. Goldberg, MO United States |
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. |
Just like the Dairy Queen!
|
| Review Date: November 10, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Joe James, TEXAS |
| Buy some of that Junket ice cream mix, follow the instructions, put it in your Ice-45 and wait, not too long you will have soft serve as good or better than the Dairy Queen. Not too sweet, just right. And the great thing is, you can do it twice with the bowl that they give you, the darn thing stays that cold. The negatives, it needs a bit more capacity, and don't use their recipes unless you really like it sweet. We love it!! |
Cuisinart Soft Ice Cream Maker
|
| Review Date: January 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Sylvia S. Mesa, |
| I've had alot of ice cream makers and this one is the best of all. It's the fastest and easiest to use and the recepies are the best of all.There's no scalding of the milk and you don't even need a mixer.All you need is a wisk and pour the mixture in and in 12 to 20min.you have the most delicious ice cream you've ever tasted. |
Worked great for me!
|
| Review Date: March 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: DoleWhipFan, Chicago, IL |
| After a trip to Oahu,Hawaii I was desperate for more Dole-Whip (on a side note I highly recommend to anyone going to Oahu a visit to the Dole Plantation for the real thing). I got a powdered mix online and after much debate bought this soft-serve machine. It worked great, although it did take longer than the directions said to mix and still seemed a little softer than it should be. I left the rest in the freezer and it hardened well and tasted great. One bit of advice from my experience - make sure the dispensing handle is all the way up before pouring your mixture into the freezer bowl if you want to avoid a sticky mess all over your countertop. :) |
|
No video reviews found for this product.
US $35.00
Leave a Reply