Looking ahead to the summer ice cream maker worth having or not

freyasmum

I was also the owner of a gaggia gelateria, which I unfortunately has to give up due to moving and just simply not having the worktop space in the kitchen.

It was fantastic; switch the cooler on about 20-30 minutes prior to sitting down to dinner and then churn the ice cream while eating dinner. My personal favourite is fior di latte - cream, milk and sugar. Couldn't be simpler and is amazing.

My mum has it now, and I hope I can get it back one day... but I wouldn't buy another. They are fun, and i enjoyed having the freedom to create whatever flavour i wanted, but they are expensive and they take up a LOT of space.

[Deleted User]

Slinky wrote: »

Like Kittie, I have the Gaggia. At a cost per serving, I dread to think how much it costs, way cheaper to buy posh icecream. But I do love making my own, even though it's an occasional treat rather than always being used.

yes that is true slinky but I use mine to avoid the additives, added fat and sugar, I also mostly use organic. A bit of alcohol stops the ice cream being rock hard

Slinky

My favourites are chocolate and chocolate and coconut. Yum.

VfM4meplse

bouicca21 wrote: »

Personally I follow a Mary Berry recipe that does not require an ice cream maker at all
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/no-churn_ice_cream_72012

It really is delicious.

Use vanilla flavoured sugar rather than vanilla extract (you put a vanilla pod in the sugar container and let it infuse, never have to use vanilla extract again).

Coffee and brandy or rum and raisin? Decisions!

Living_proof

I have the freeze-the-bowl first one plus I believe a gadget for the old Kenwood. But I have another very basic little thing which is the best of all. Its a metallic rectangular container with a little motor underneath and a paddle in the middle. There's a wire which plugs into the electricity supply which is flat enough to allow the freezer door to shut. So you just mix up your goodies, put the metal box in the freezer with the paddles in and shut it in, turn it on and go away. Eventually the paddles stop turning as the ice cream freezes. Very unsophisticated but does the trick and just pence from a car boot or charity shop. None of them are never used as (a) seldom eat dessert and (b) there is never room in the freezer!

Floss

We (well DH!) have graduated from the Kenwood freeze-the-bowl one to a Sage electric does-it-itself one. The latter is easier, can be set to keep frozen if we're not around to empty it, doesn't need 24 hours in the freezer (i.e forward planning!) and plays a cute ice-cream-van tune when it's done! We do have space to store it, if we didn't we wouldn't have bought it.

DH makes fab sorbets and ice creams, using a Gary Rhodes basic recipe and we've enjoyed flavours from vanilla, mint choc chip, rum & raisin, strawberry pavlova and raspberry ripple through black forest, pistachio and honeycomb to Marcus Wareing's cheese ice cream (amazing with Eccles cakes!), also lots of sorbets from allotment fruits & liquers.