Ice Cream Maker - Do you use yours?

jaybee

I used to have one - but gave it away. The freezer is not hugh so the bowl (actually had two) but felt that it took up too much room. I wasn't that impressed with the icecream - I can make the same by taking it out of the freezer and whisking it up from time to time (just need to be around to do it!). The person I gave it to loves it though! Maybe if I had a hugh kitchen and unlimited budget I would have one of the really good ones.

Edited to say: I have a really good local farm who makes fab icecream. It's expensive but it's free from nasties and makes me not buy it too often and therefore eat too much of it!!!

blue-kat

I ordered the Philips ice cream maker from Lakeland but sent it back for a refund when I saw how complicated the gadget was, and the recipes looked fiddly too.

competitionscafe

I have the Panasonic one mentioned above (runs off batteries and the whole thing goes in the freezer) it's quite small, cost around £30 on amazon and of the cheaper machines it got by far the best rating in Which? magazine's test (which is why I bought it - didn't want to spend money on one of the fancy expensive ones if I didn't use it)

Anyway, to be honest I haven't got round to using it yet (got it 6 months ago) keep meaning too and I love ice-cream, especially homemade. Not sure why I haven't used it yet, although maybe it's the hassle of making homemade custard first as the base (although you can use shop bought fresh custard). Anyone got any good recipes for flavours you can't buy in the shops - for vanilla, chocolate etc I would probably just take the easy option and get a premium brand shop bought one (like Green & Blacks or Rocombe Farm) so need some more unusual ideas... The rhubarb ice-cream in Skye Gyngell's book sounds nice - any other ideas/recipes?

lil_me

Been on my wishlist for ages, oh well maybe for my birthday this year then..............

looby-loo_2

I bought a brand new in sealed box Kenwood one from a carboot for £5. I'm afraid to say it's still BNIB after 6 months.
No room in big chest freezer for the bowl

Lord_Lardington

Had mine for ages but only used it once. That said, mine is the “Bowl in then freezer” type. If I had a “Freeze it from the mains” model, I’m sure I’d use it more.

Debt_Free_Chick

I have the Gaggia Gelataria - horrendously expensive at around £300 :eek: :eek: but as it freezes & churns, you don't have the "need some room in the freezer problem".

Also, once you have the custard cool, it takes about 40 mins to make ice-cream which is ready to eat. I have some recipes that don't need the egg custard mixture, so I could make ice cream in less time.

Wouldn't be without it - but then, I love ice cream more than chocolate so there's no question of it not being used ..... as if!

StressedSteph

dan1979 wrote: »

I have a panasonic one, you put the ingredients in then bung it in the freezer so it churns and freezes at the same time, no need to pre-freeze a container or anything like that. (runs off batteries)

It gets used loads, possibly too much. There's so many variations of ice cream you'll never get bored of it. I love a nice vanilla ice cream with various chocolate bars added *drools*

Oooh that sounds nice. Cadburys creme egg in it would work for me :T :j

dan1979

competitionscafe wrote: »

Anyway, to be honest I haven't got round to using it yet (got it 6 months ago) keep meaning too and I love ice-cream, especially homemade. Not sure why I haven't used it yet, although maybe it's the hassle of making homemade custard first as the base (although you can use shop bought fresh custard). Anyone got any good recipes for flavours you can't buy in the shops - for vanilla, chocolate etc I would probably just take the easy option and get a premium brand shop bought one (like Green & Blacks or Rocombe Farm) so need some more unusual ideas...

and there was me thinking this was a site about moneysaving!

Home made verisons of the premium ones are just as nice or better and cost half the price.

I don't know about unusual but it just depends on your tastes, you can stick anything in there. I made a nice coconut ice cream the other day, have done fruit ones as well.

Due to practice I can have the custard base ready in under five minutes (use a high heat carefully and lots of stirring) so it's not really a hassle.

purpleivy

I've just ordered the Ben and Jerry's ice cream book, 33p plus £2.75 post. I had been eyeing it up in Borders, but decided to wait.