Ice cream maker recommendations

shoperholicnot

I am thinking of buying the panasonic ice cream maker, it takes batteries and
you dont have to pre freeze the bowl..has anyone any experience of this product and what do you think of it?
thanx in advance

shona_2

This one did well in the Which test - the only best buy one that didn't involve an in-built freezer... have you seen them for sale anywhere?

recovering_spendaholic

I know you don't have to pre-freeze the bowl but you have to put the whole unit into the freezer which I think takes up even more room than the bowl would've done! I looked at it on the John Lewis website and it is £34.95.

shona_2

Has anyone else got any experience of what machines are good etc? There's such a variation in price etc...
all help welcome!
Shona

BrandNewDay

I am useless for maker information. However, I can tell you that I've made the stuff without a maker and it was gorgeous. You just have to stir the stuff every hour or so for three hours. I'm not sure if machines take the work out the early stages - when I make ice cream, I steap vanilla pods in cream, stir castor sugar with eggs, etc. It's time-consuming to get the custard made. But the freezing part is easy-peasy. I just pour it in a plastic container and bung it in the freezer.

Queen.Bess

I too make ice cream without a maker. It just involves a lot of mixing of the yoghurt, fruit and cream and it's delicious!! It's perfect at this time of year with all the soft fruit. Just finished my portion of tayberry ice cream - mmmmm!

organic_wanabe

My DS has requested that I ask for an ice-cream maker for Christmas. I suggested that if he was that keen then it could be one of his presents, but he wasn't taken with that suggestion! However, it did get me thinking that maybe it would be money-saving in the long term and it would be healthier as I would have control of the ingredients. I know that you can get fairly cheap ones but I never have enough space in my freezer to pre-freeze them and the electric ones seem fairly expensive. Does anyone have any experience of using an ice-cream maker and/or advice on the best type or make?

I'd hate to think it would one of those Christmas presents that are an expensive mistake and get shoved in the cupboard and forgotten about. My slendertone is but one of these past disasters!

wizzkid_3

I fell for that with my daughter, we bought her a cheap one where you put the bowl in the freezer first. We found that the bowl defrosted too quickly, and you were putting the stuff in and out of the freezer to firm it up all the time. We would have been better off without TBH. Even though we knew what we were putting in the ice cream, it only seemed to taste any good if we used expensive ingredients, like cream, so the pennies dissapeared and the pounds piled on. I was hoping we could make it with yoghurt, but that was revolting!

Pink.

Hi organic wanabe,

Here are some older threads that might help you decide on whether or not you want one:

homemade ice cream?

Panasonic ice cream maker

Yoghurt/ice cream makers, are they worth it?

Pink

Pandora123_2

We've got one like this:

Philips Ice Cream Maker

(Actually I think ours is probably the older version of this one; I don't think ours is the "Comfort" type, whatever that is!)

We bought ours on eBay, I think we paid around £20 including shipping and it was practically brand new. We LOVE it, so much so that we bought one for my sister-in-law for Christmas, and she is a big fan of it as well.

It's the type that you freeze the container ahead of time in the freezer. The only time we had a problem with the ice cream not freezing properly was when we didn't follow the freezing directions exactly. (eg. you can't put anything into the container or against it while it is being frozen). Also don't put it in the top part of the freezer, it is not as cold there. And the ice cream mixture must be very cold before you put it in, so if you are blending in something that is room temp (bananas for example), the mixture should be blenderized together and then kept in the fridge for a while before you make the ice cream.

But it is FANTASTIC for making delicious ice cream and controlling EXACTLY what goes in it. We are vegan, and although we've found some excellent store-bought vegan ice "cream", the homemade ones are so much better and with much more variety. Banana is a favourite, and custard apple (cherimoya) is to die for.

The only problem with it is that the two of us always eat the entire tub in one sitting

pudding06

I'm reminded of HFW's simple recipe for peach iceream = the only icecream i've made in mine

it was tinned peaches and double cream blended then frozen.

I havent room in my freezer to freesze the bowl

and i dont have the instructions - bought in the sale and last one left so I just have to guess. Been okay so far.

pudds