Cuisinart ICE-20P1 Automatic 1.5-Quart Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker, Makes Frozen Treats in less than 20-Minutes,
- SUPERIOR FUNCTION: The new patent-pending mixing paddle makes frozen treats in 20 minutes or less
- COOL FEATURE: Double-insulated freezer bowl eliminates the need for ice
- CAPACITY: Makes up to 1.5-quarts of your favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt
- EASY TO USE: Easy lock transparent lid with large spout makes adding ingredients simple and mess free
- LIMITED 3-YEAR WARRANTY: Refer to user manual for troubleshooting steps and questions surrounding warranty policies – this product is BPA free
$70
Product Description
Creating up to 1-1/2 quarts of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, or frozen drinks at home takes only about 20 minutes with this electric appliance, and salt and ice are not needed. After the machine’s chilling chamber has been in the freezer for about eight hours the liquid between its walls becomes thoroughly frozen. The chamber then goes atop the power base, the unit’s paddle goes into the chamber, the transparent top is locked in place, and the machine is turned on. Ingredients go into the chamber through an opening in the top as the paddle turns. The chamber chills the ingredients to whatever consistency is desired–though dense treats are hard to make because the paddle churns in air.
Chocolate chips, chopped fruit, nuts, and other special ingredients can be added toward the end. The nonstick chamber makes cleanup a snap. Storing it in the freezer ensures a frozen confection is only 20 to 40 minutes away when the mood strikes. The machine measures 10 inches in diameter and 15 inches high and weighs 9-1/2 pounds. It carries a three-year limited warranty. A detailed instruction booklet including many recipes comes included. –Fred Brack
From the Manufacturer
Whatever your style, Cuisinart’s ICE-20 1-1/2-quart automatic ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet maker will help make a delicious frozen dessert to match it! Make fat-free sorbets, low-fat frozen yogurts, rich ice creams quick and easy.
Scoop It Up
Imagine indulging in homemade frozen desserts and those delicious “island” drinks made from your favorite fresh ingredients–right at home. Finish a family dinner or celebrate a special occasion. Any excuse will do. The Cuisinart ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet maker lets you make enough of your favorite recipes to please a crowd. It’s fast and easy.
Features
- Fully automatic: No need to stir or mix ingredients. Simply place them into the bowl and turn on the machine.
- Fast and efficient: A heavy-duty motor makes frozen yogurt, ice cream, sherbet, sorbet or frozen drinks in 20 to 30 minutes–without ice.
- Perfect consistency: Double insulated freezer bowl maintains low temperature to freeze ingredients evenly for smooth and creamy results.
- Large capacity: Makes up to 1-1/2 quarts of frozen dessert–enough for tons of fun!
- Easy and mess-free: Large ingredient spout makes adding ingredients simple, safe, and conveniently mess-free.
- Simple to operate: Transparent lid locks tight and lets you watch the mixing process.
- Pure indulgence: Add fresh ingredients and turn on the machine. In as little as 20 minutes you’ll enjoy up to 1-1/2 quarts of wholesome sorbet, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and more.
- Removable mixing arm and freezer bowl wash clean in seconds; base wipes clean with a damp cloth.
- Heavy-duty integrated motor
- Double insulated freezer bowl and automatic mixing arm aerate ingredients for light and creamy results.
- Includes recipe book
- 1-1/2-quart capacity
- Limited 3-year warranty
Bringing the Good Life Home
Cuisinart products are designed to make life delicious all day long. Specialty items, like our Mix It In soft serve ice cream maker, offer today’s consumers a variety of menu options, and fun and easy new ways to entertain family and friends.
Cuisinart first came into home kitchens over 30 years ago when it introduced the now legendary food processor. People discovered that routines could be broken and creative cooking quickly became part of the new lifestyle. Preparing fresh ingredients with products that offered easy and interesting new techniques meant healthier meals and more free time.
Today Cuisinart develops products to make every meal memorable. From breakfast toast and coffee to elegant five-course dinners, the preparation and cooking have become a pleasurable part of the total experience. Today’s relaxed lifestyles and the convenience of Cuisinart products make it easier than ever to Savor the Good Life, right at home with family and friends.
Review
- Automatic dessert maker makes frozen yogurt, ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, and frozen drinks in 20 to 30 minutes
- Double-insulated freezer bowl holds up to 11/2 quarts of frozen dessert
- Easy-lock lid and large ingredient spout for adding ingredients
- Recipe booklet included
- 3-year limited warranty —
From the manufacturer
Specification: Cuisinart ICE-20P1 Automatic 1.5-Quart Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker, Makes Frozen Treats in less than 20-Minutes,
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dimensions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DAK –
The best thing I bought that I shouldn’t have!Me having an ice cream maker is like an anarchist learning how to make a bomb. This is dangerous!I obsessed perfecting a vanilla base and now use that as a springboard for whatever flavors I can dream up! A lot will depend on your freezer- how cold it is, how full it is and how cold your ice cream base is. These are factors having nothing to do with the machine but they WILL affect your finished product and any failure tends to get blamed on the machine.There is a bit of a learning curve. When you make an ice cream it will need to be transfered to another container (preferably one you prechilled in the freezer) to finish freezing in the freezer. The stuff your machine produces is not really ‘soft serve’ as in Dairy Queen. That is a different product with different ingredients and doesn’t melt quickly. The ice cream your machine will make WILL be soft but its too soft to serve and will melt rapidly. Make your ice cream base on day 1, chill it very well, I put mine against the back wall of the fridge. Have the canister freezing at least 24hrs, preferably 2 days. Churn your ice cream on day 2, put in a final freezing container and freeze overnight. Serve on day 3. I have had success doing it this way. If the canister isn’t totally utterly frozen, it will defrost in the 20-30min you are churning and you’ll end up with a qt of milkshake. Not a bad thing but probably not what you were aiming for. This machine is excellent, make sure you HAND WASH the canister because the gel is sealed inside and I suspect cannot withstand the heat of the dishwasher (heat causes things to expand, sealed things can burst). The clear top IS dishwasher safe but doesn’t need to be washed if you didn’t spill anything on it while pouring your base into the canister, or if you didn’t use too much base and it overflowed.Make your base, churn your base. If you want to add swirls of sauce or chunks of things, fold them in when you remove the ice cream from the canister and place in your freezing container. Tiny pieces might not hinder the rotating paddle but its just as easy to fold things in afterward.This is a good machine and I’m happy I bought it but having ice cream around all the time will be hard to resist!
2MuchStuff –
WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?Bought the Model 21 in time for homemade peach ice cream. Had gone back and forth whether to purchase a newer, more expensive version but after reading someone else’s recommendation that the older, simpler model worked just fine, decided to follow their advice and after having made nine batches of various flavors, agree that the “21” couldn’t be any better. No bells and whistles are really necessary other than the on/off switch, and it’s overly pricey to upgrade. The machine does make some noise, but not like a revved-up Harley or anything. I continue putzing around in the kitchen while the ice cream churns, and the high-pitched hum is not overly annoying. The slightly smaller capacity (1-1/2 qt) is advantageous since we can polish off a batch and go on to the next “experiment” without much delay. Finally, the smaller canister is easier to fit in a small refrigerator-freezer for the necessary pre-chilling. I haven’t found a second canister to be necessary for a small family, but if you have the freezer space and need to make larger quantities more often, it could be the ticket.This little gadget has been fun to use and it’s so easy, almost foolproof, to have great-tasting ice cream without the mess of an old-fashioned salt-and-ice freezer. After trying one of the Cuisinarts I ordered another as a gift, along with a 1-1/2 qt oblong storage container (have tried both Tovolo and Sumo—they seem practically identical). After the initial experiments with various “rich” recipes and flavors, we will probably try some of the lower cal versions such as sorbets and ices, but for now, it’s full bore with the creamy goodness. Life is now measured “before homemade ice cream” and after!Observations/methodology: Have tried various recipes—with eggs, cooked custard; with eggs, uncooked; no eggs, adding some instant vanilla pudding powder for extra thickness and body, and using fruits–peaches, cherries, strawberries, as well as butter pecan. (B.C. was hands-down fave!—toasted the chopped nuts in the oven first, with melted butter, a little sugar, and a sprinkling of kosher salt. In the custard, used dark brown sugar, maple syrup and Jack Daniels for flavoring—yummilicious!) Finally decided to stick with the cooked custard approach, adding a small amount of vanilla bean instant pudding powder, say 1-2 TB, to the cooled custard just prior to freezing. (I feel uneasy about using raw, uncooked eggs.) Have had excellent results using a Thermapen to measure the temp, whisking constantly while cooking in a heavy pot. It doesn’t take long to come to temp and thicken, but does need to be cooled prior to freezing, so if in a hurry you may prefer the easy-no-eggs-instant pudding type of recipe, readily available online.Not one batch so far has been a “failure”—in fact, they’re all so good that we’ve become addicted and eat ice cream three times a day. It should come with a warning label! We prefer a rich version, with a combination of heavy cream, evaporated milk, condensed milk and regular milk for a vanilla base resulting in that “from my childhood” taste. It can be modified with add-ins as you please. Be sure to write down what you do as you go, in case tweaking is needed next time or in case you pronounce the latest batch a sure winner. Have plenty of tasting spoons at the ready while churning, and several rubber spatulas will come in handy.As many have noted, it’s key to have the canister frozen rock-solid prior to churning. We keep it in the freezer between uses and even put the plastic shell (aka “lid”) in there while prepping the custard. There’s no actual lid as you might imagine. I wring out a wet dish towel and lay it on top across the open hole, and put some ice cubes atop that to help insulate. May not be necessary, but every bit helps.So far the “21” has worked great and we make a batch every other day. The most challenging part is transferring the just-frozen custard to a storage container for additional hardening. Take out the paddle first and scrape it off (another opportunity for tasting). The filled canister is heavy and to hold it with one hand while scraping out the soft ice cream is a bit unwieldy. A very firm plastic spatula works best (rather than a flexible one) to get all the ice cream out. Never use metal, anywhere, anytime! Wash and dry the canister when empty and return to your freezer pronto. You WILL want more ice cream soon and it’ll be ready to go, so keep a spot empty for it. It’ll be worth it. (I scream for green beans? Not so much….)Some have complained about the freezer not working for long, but being a new owner, I can’t say.. It seems like if you treat the parts gently it would last “forever,” but maybe that’s just like the honeymoon phase with a new lover. Time will tell but we’re very happy for now—even obsessed.Be cautious of OVER-filling the container which can cause an overflow mess since the mixture expands while freezing. Err on being conservative with the amount of custard mix. I use 2 eggs per 3 to 3-1/2 cups of liquid per batch and add the mixings the last few minutes to help ensure they don’t add too much volume. Keep an eye on it from time to time during the freezing process to make sure it isn’t about to overflow. You can always remove some of the mixture if it seems necessary. In the case of the toasted buttered pecans, I folded most of them into the mixture AFTER pouring it into the storage container because instructions say not to add anything larger than a chocolate chip, and I wanted some to be larger chunks. This delayed-addition technique works well for other fixings, too. On one hand, adding pureed fruits at the outset is good, for overall flavor intensity, but adding extra cut-up fruit later may be to your liking. Be aware that too-large chunks will likely get icy in the long run and be hard to scoop up, so there’s a fine line.The other “misteake” was making a double portion of custard in order to have back-to-back batches of half vanilla, intending to make another flavor with the remaining half of the mixture. Apparently the second half of the custard wasn’t chilled enough to overcome the freezing canister having gotten warmer on the first run. Although most batches froze in 15 to 30 minutes max, after a longer time it was obvious this batch refused to set up, so I returned the chilled custard in a bowl in the refrigerator, returned the canister to the freezer and decided to try again later. About five hours worked. Lesson learned—be patient. OK to double the batch, but chill it all thoroughly prior to churning.If pondering whether to get a countertop ice cream freezer, go for it. It’s fun and easy to use. You’ll be a proud as a brand-new parent after you make the first batch.
SquirrelNYC –
Easy to use, with a few caveatsLet me disclaim this review by saying that this is the second time I’ve bought this ice cream maker, as the motor on the first one I had gave up after using it with great care only about 5 times over the course of 2 years. However, I did like how lightweight, compact and easy this appliance is to use and I hope that the one I had earlier was an anomaly. Two caveats to using this: the bowl must be 100% frozen in the freezer before using; if it isn’t and if you can still hear the coolant sloshing around inside when you take it out, it’s not cold enough to make hard ice cream. Secondly, there will always be a thin layer of ice cream that freezes into a little wall around the edge of the bowl when you start churning- the ‘scraper’ doesn’t get all the way to the edge and you pretty much have to count this as lost ice cream because you can’t use anything too hard to scrape it off or it will scratch the nonstick coating on the inside of the bowl. The ice cream maker is also a little noisy, it sounds like a bit like an old dishwasher, but nothing too terrible given that it takes approximately ~20min to get from custard to ice cream. Overall I love ice cream too much for these things to deter me. Fingers crossed that this one doesn’t give up on me as easily as the last one did.
abcandd2 –
Slushy and Soft? Fixed With Better Freezing MethodsI have more of a problem with the manual than the machine, because it wasn’t the troubleshooting help it could have been. What did help was this page’s Question and Answer section, with all the user feedback!So my first batch didn’t turn out so well. I used half and half, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. I’d have used regular cream, but I can’t find any pure heavy cream in my area that isn’t full of preservatives and additives containing free glutamic acid and other scary stuff.I froze the bowl for 14 hours. The gel was frozen solid. The manual said that the bowl should be in the freezer for 16-24 hours, but it also said that when you didn’t hear the liquid gel swishing, it was sufficiently frozen. So I thought optimistically, “Oh! That must mean my freezer’s just a super-freezer and got it cold enough in record time! Yay!” Um, no.I have learned that just because the gel is frozen, that doesn’t mean its temperature is as low as it can go – or should go. As I discovered, it needs to go a lot lower than “frozen solid” to work with this machine. Since it probably freezes around 32 degrees F (0 Celsius), the manual probably shouldn’t say to use the lack of swishing sound as an indicator to readiness. (It’s less misleading to say that hearing liquid is a definite sign it’s NOT ready.)The actual problem I encountered in my unsuccessful first try was that the mix stopped moving. Parts of it stayed on top of the paddle in a semi-frozen slushy state and parts of it remained on the sides, still unfrozen, and that was the stuff that wouldn’t freeze up at all. Since I was confident my bowl was cold enough (uh, yeah!) and the manual cautioned not to stick things in the bowl while the machine was on, I kept turning it off and moving the solid stuff to the sides, then turning it back on. Rather ungainly way to get what turned out to be a milkshake that, when frozen, turned into ice crystals.The next time, I did three things differently, and got very nice, acceptably smooth ice cream without omnipresent ice crystals.First, I used our non-self-defrosting freezer to chill the gel bowl. Freezers that are set to self defrost work by warming up every so often to control frost. Stand-alone freezers like chest freezers or upright freezers come in two styles: Self-defrosting and non-self-defrosting. We use the latter type, the one that has to be manually defrosted, because colder freezers are necessary for long-term storage of meat. A freezer that doesn’t self-defrost keeps its cold temperature steady, with the exception of when the freezer is opened or loses power. So I stuck the bowl in that one at the almost-coldest setting, 7 out of 8.Second, I chilled the mixture overnight in the fridge. Not sure that did anything much to improve things, because it seemed about the same amount of cold as my first try.The last thing I did differently was that while the ice cream machine was working, when parts of the mixture started freezing up on top, I used a rubber spatula to recirculate them. I kept using the spatula pretty vigorously the entire churning time. That worked well and was kinda fun.I was left with something that was definitely ice cream. Not slushy, not prone to melting at all. The ice cream didn’t melt instantly and the inner bowl was coated with a thin, hard-frozen layer of ice cream in places that stayed there. I rushed to get the ice cream into freezer containers, but I don’t think it was necessary this time. Whatever was in that bowl stayed frozen for a long, long time. Fifteen minutes later, I could still eat it frozen with a wooden spoon.So I came away the wiser and with better ice cream. Cold is key. I don’t think you need to use a non-self-defrosting freezer like I did, necessarily, but if you chill it the full 24 hours at the coldest setting and it still isn’t cold enough, it’s possible your self-defrosting freezer isn’t doing the job.I was left with two more tips to offer anyone who might be interested. One, if the bowl is that cold, don’t wash it right away, or it will freeze some of the washing water on it in an almost invisible layer. Two, I swear that bowl seemed cold enough to possibly make another batch. Had I had one ready, I’d have tried it. If I try it, I’ll report back.Hope that helps someone else who encounters the same problem of partially frozen slushy-milkshake ice cream. It’s most likely because the bowl isn’t cold enough.UPDATE 10/23/2014: Well, it’s the next day, and I am thrilled to report I got extra mileage out of the ice cream maker. I froze the bowl at the almost-coldest setting in my non-self-defrosting freezer for about 20 hours. I had a large batch of butterscotch ice cream mix ready and a small batch of coffee ice cream mix ready, my own recipes. I first ran the machine with the large batch for about 18 minutes. (I learned something important here: The larger batches circulate MUCH better than the smaller ones. This one hardly needed to be coaxed with the spatula. On the downside, there was so much aeration that I had to scoop out some at the top to prevent its warming up because it was leaving the icy part of the bowl.) Then I scooped most of the ice cream into a container and popped it in the freezer. I left a bit of the ice cream on the paddle, since the flavors weren’t bad to mix with the next batch and I wanted to preserve any coldness I could. I did not wash the bowl out for the same reason, and also because I didn’t want it warmed by delays or water. So I then reassembled everything and started the machine and added the small batch of coffee custard mix. It took about 12 minutes to freeze this mini-batch into gorgeous ice cream. Didn’t even start to melt. So I basically got 1 1/2 bowls out of one freezer day. Yay! Hopefully I didn’t do anything to risk the ice cream maker’s breaking – I was pretty careful to mix in the frozen part with the non-frozen part together.I learned something else here, too, that many of you must already know – the more fat, the more like store-bought ice cream. Half and half alone without cream or butter added wasn’t quite smooth enough, though it’s darn good. I thought it would work because some recipes in the book call for 2 cups milk and 2 cups cream, and it did make nice ice cream, but it occurred to me that I don’t know if half & half is half cream, half milk by weight or by volume. Anyone know?UPDATE 9/23/2021: It’s years later and it’s still working. Haven’t used it tons, but somewhat, with a variety of dairy and nondairy ice creams. Pretty pleased with this machine holding up and upgraded it two stars.
Hashim –
To be honest one of my best purchases hereTo be honest one of my best purchases here. Love it and going to buy 2 more as gifts for my sister and friend!First I consider my self and wifey are ice-cream lover and addict sometimes!We did some flavors until now and we will try moreSome comments before you buy it:Noisy? yes, but not to level that bothers me.Small for big family? maybe! for two of us we make one bowl every week (depend on feel and desire). you can buy second bowl ( I have it but never use it)Easy to use? yes, using it easy. The tricky part is what you put in it! ( more explain will come)Useful tips we did and worked for us:1- If you love ice-cream heavy, hard, and texture smooth (like I do), You need to use heavy cream with your regular milk. If you are ok with light soft serve, milk with half and half will do the trick.2- Do not over load the bowl with a lot of addetive ingredients. Its going to be difficult to freeze and unit as one texture. like adding a lot of chocolate ships or a lot of shredded coconut, that is no no.3- 20 -25 min is proper time, Slightly less than is ok if you put less total ice-cream mix. I don’t recommend going more than 30min! why? because the frozen bowl will not stay cold all time and your ice-cream will probably melt down after long time keeping it in machine.4- Make sure your bowl is totally frozen before you start, shake it to make sure! I usually store it in freezer until I use it again, wash it an back again to freezer.5- Avoid filling the bowl to the top, ice-cream grow bigger when set and will over flow and will make a miss and hard to clean.6- *** I noticed that I can increase the hardness of my ice-cream by manually spreading the ice-cream mix to touch all inside surfaces of the bowl while still on by using rubber spatula. I do that in the last 2-3min before I turn off the machine. The ice-cream when start to freeze tend to stop moving or just touch one area inside the bowl and by spreading it you make it set faster.7- I put in fridge for at least 2 hours before I use it! my wife like it soft and eat it immediately! :(8- Did I say this? put your ice-cream mix in fridge or freezer for 30-60 min. before you start! the colder your mix the faster and easy to set and freeze inside the bowl9- Price of ingredients to make a nice ice-cream? will I say fair to ok. As I mentioned, I use heavy-cream for hard serve ice-cream and I buy 1 quart around $6 (and I use it 2 times or two bowls, 2 cups each). you also add the price of regular milk and other flavors and ingredients as preferred.I hope I didn’t miss things. I waited sometimes to review this and try to be helpful! all above mentioned for the ice-cream and still enjoying my ice-cream making for now. I will move to frozen yogurt and I will add more tips to my review. Thanksmy wife helped me with this and added some pictures!our ice-cream getting better as you see from pictures lol
Jacqueline L. Pierce –
Best ice cream maker ever!!!I absolutely love this ice cream maker. I can’t even get past making vanilla or vanilla chocolate swirl! In 20 minutes I have creamy smooth and delicious home made ice cream! I love the purity of the ingredients ( purchase good heavy creams and milk ) And when it sets in the freezer it’s still smooth and creamy! I also purchased the Ben & Jerry’s recipe book! I can’t wait to try the other flavors.This ice cream maker is a must buy(very reasonably priced too)!Enjoy!
Amazon Customer –
Very nice appliance#1 – make sure your freezer is at 0F (-18C) and freeze the bowl for 24 hrs. Cool whatever base you make in the fridge (so it gets to about 37F).#2 – buy some half cup storage containers to store and freeze the icecream in once made. This makes them freeze faster than a single container AND makes it easy to pull a serving out at a time.#3 as I infered by #2, you have to freeze the icecream for a couple hours after making it. It comes out of the machine soft, and that’s okay, and it’s yummy, but if you want hard serve you have to freeze it.
Paul Manijak –
Easy to useEasy to use… Obviously there is prep for the recipe you are doing. But when it comes to churning this machine does the work. It notice a video or two of frozen bucket making tumbling noise and so obvious they didn’t put bucket in right. They they just stopped machine and adjusted bucket it be fine. I do recommend this product to churning homemade, ice cream, frozen yogurt or sobert. Just make your recipe as directed, pour in machine and turn on and let it do work as directed…simple as that. 👍
C. J Prunty –
This machine will give you a soft serve consistency in less than 10 minutesI previously had purchased a Breville compressor ice cream machine, which unfortunately broke too quickly for my expectations ($400 machines should last a long time IMO). I had gotten this version for my mother for Christmas last year and decided to get this one for myself instead of forking out the extra $$’s for another compressor style machine. Here are the comparisons of the two machines:-The Cuisinart churns the ice cream much, much faster than the Breville. I get a 1 pint batch done in less than 10 minutes with the Cuisinart, whereas the Breville takes anywhere from 18 to more than 45 minutes to churn. Oddly enough, the ice cream could still be unexpectedly softer at the 45 minute mark than the 18 minute mark.-The Cuisinart takes up less footprint on the counter and weighs less than the Breville. The Cuisinart is easier to move around to clean and store. The Breville is more of a permanent fixture on the counter.-The Breville has many more options, including an option implying that you could get different ice cream hardness results, although after experimenting, I never found much use for that feature. I always used the one setting (and some how got inconsistent results at that one setting). This option is confusing; I am not sure if it alters the length of churn time, temperature, or both. There are also some other features, like letting the compressor continue to work after the churning stops to keep the ice cream cold. However, the Cuisinart bowl also keeps the ice cream cold since the frozen bowl stays frozen for a much longer period of time than the 10 minutes required for the churning. In fact, if you carefully plan out the flavors, you can process multiple batches in the frozen Cuisinart bowl before having to clean and refreeze the bowl. The Cuisinart has just a simple on-off button. In this situation, I think the simple on-off button is more than sufficient, while the more complex features on the Breville added complexity with questionable added value.-While the paddle on the Cuisinart can be a little tricky, I find the Cuisinart overall to be much easier to clean. The Breville was a definite pain to clean because the bowl has a plastic tube that holds the paddle screwed into the bottom.-It is a little tricky in both machines to get the ice cream out and into a container (without making a mess). In the Breville case, it is that center tube again creating the biggest problem. In both machines, getting the ice cream off of the paddles and neatly into the container is difficult. The more complex Cuisinart paddle is harder to deal with than the Breville version. Getting the ice cream off the sides of the bowl’s wall where the ice cream tends to be more frozen is a little easier with the Breville bowl because the body heat from your hands actually warms the bowl up a bit making it easier to scrape off the ice cream.-The opening where you put the mix-ins is satisfactory on both machines. The Breville has a lid you open to drop in the ingredients, whereas the Cuisinart has an open hole. At first I was concerned about the open hole, but it turns out not to be a problem for me. The Breville supposedly has a beep to let you know when to add the mix-ins, but I found it to be extremely inconsistent. Some times the ice cream would continue to churn for another 5 to 10 minutes after the beep, other times I didn’t even have enough time to get the ingredients out to put in the machine before it stopped. I never figured out why there was such diverse time differences in the Breville. I thought it might have something to do with the recipe or the temperature of the batch as it came out of the refrigerator. I found that the timing on the Cuisinart to be extremely consistent, so it isn’t my recipes or batch temperatures. You just set an independent timer for the Cuisinart for your desired consistency (in my case it is about 8 minutes, about 7 minute to the point you add the mix-ins).-The worst part of the Cuisinart is having to freeze the bowls. Yes, they need the 24 hours or a super freeze freezer. And the bowl(s) do take up space in the freezer. I ordered a second bowl because once I start, I tend to make multiple 1 pint batches in different flavors. But I might have been able to live with just the one bowl.In all, I think the Cuisinart is the better option. Even if it breaks down earlier than expected, its replacement cost is much more reasonable than the Breville.
Lauren –
Super cute and works well!!This is cute as a button. The pink ice cream maker looks really cute on my counter. I have had a more expensive ice cream maker in the past and this one is so much better. I honestly bought this one because it was such a good price and I just wanted something that worked. I was a little scared when I discovered how stripped down the model is. It is just the base with motor, ice bowl and top with churner. But it works really well and freezes ice cream creamier and we’ll within the timing on the home ice cream recipes I have used. If you are considering getting an ice cream maker please do! It is worth absolutely every penny to have fresh ice cream. Treat yourself to the pink one. 😊