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4.5
This little ice cream maker fits my needs as a single person on Keto. It is easy to use and ice cream is made in about 15 minutes. I make my Keto ice cream recipe with about 2 cups of liquid ice cream and place it the ice cream maker. I then let it churn for about 15 minutes and voila I have a cold, creamy soft custard. For me, it's well worth the price. I love making my own Keto ice creams as I can make what flavors I want without the high price of store bought Keto ice cream. This ice cream maker for me is easy to use and clean. It couldn't be any simpler to make ice cream!LOVE this ice cream maker! It’s so no fuss! I keep my bowl in the freezer so it’s always ready if I want to make some ice cream. It has a pretty small volume (between a pint and quart) but that means it is ready quicker than traditional. Easy clean for the bowl and the paddle attachment and motor.Just got my ice cream maker and so far -- having made mint ice cream and now lemon sherbet -- I love it. It's easy to set up, easy to use and not too, too loud. It is a bit noisy but you can leave in the kitchen after the dishes are done. When the sherbet is ready, I plan to make Mocha ice cream. ;) I LOVE that I can make up my own flavors!Here are a couple of qualifiers.1. It does not freeze the ice cream/sherbet solid. Of course not. If you ever watched a video of how ice cream is made, you know that even the manufacturers hard-freeze the ice cream AFTER they make it. What the ice cream maker does is combine the cream, sugar and flavorings without ice crystals forming. If you just mixed those together and put them in the fridge, they would be icy when you to them out. But the churning process prevents that.2. You cannot leave the bucket in the freezer longer than 48 hours. And it take 24 hours to freeze. So the best way to use it is to plan to make several ice creams, one right after the other. What I'm doing is using it (the instructions say it takes 15-30 minutes but on videos most say for up to an hour), then washing it, DRYING IT (very important) and putting it back in the freezer while I prepare the next batch.3. You should pre-mix your ingredients. The shoot is only for adding things like chocolate chips or fruit slices when the mix is half-way done. Anyway, you want to make the sugar is mixed completely or you may end up with some parts too sweet and some not sweet enough. Also, this gives you chance to taste the mix (especially if you like to make up your own flavors, as I do).I don't know how long it will last. But if it's anything like those old Frosty Cups, we're talking years. :DAre use this to make low carb ice cream, and it worked just fine.As a last attempt I removed the pot from a freezer that runs close to plus or minus 0 degrees. I set the pot in a box and put insulation around it. I then remover the ice cream mix with a few ice crystals in it from the freezer. Pouring the mix in the pot, turned it on, covered with a folded towel.Continuing run time past twenty minutes does not make the really sloppy mixture an firmer.I cut the the mix down to a volume until the ice cream won't spill off my spoon like chicken soup.The pot frosts on the outside only about half way up the side. That fact tells me that I got took to the cleaners with this purchase.One of my worst purchases!I confess I tried to buy a different machine by a very well-known kitchen appliance maker. In fact, I tried *two times* and had overlooked this little beauty because I was swayed by that well-known brand. The first maker from that well-known brand came in with the inside of the cylinder so badly dented into a pentagon shape instead of the circular inside one should expect, I shipped it back. After all, if you can't get the lid on because it's badly dented, what would you do with it otherwise? The second one arrived, and this time, it wasn't dented on the inside of the cylinder with a pentagon. This one had a triangular shape inside--and the same problem existed: I was unable to get the lid on. I shipped it back.On my third try, I went for this little red beauty--Maxi-Matic. I have to say it's downright cute, but cute will never be enough to sell something, or convince me it would be useful. This time I was pleasantly surprised!The first batch of ice cream didn't impress me too much though. Ice crystals formed, leaving the ice cream a bit of a flatter taste than the rich, creamy ice cream I was looking for. A little bit of a switch in thinking and some scouting of the other recipes online instead of in the maker's recipes solved the problem. Rich and creamy? Add a couple of eggs and voila! Rich and creamy! There's one other thing I do before making the ice cream in the machine: I beat the eggs and sugar until it's a lovely thick mix and then add the whipping cream and milk, beating the whole thing well. Then I put the bowl in the freezer for about 3 hours, and *then* use the cylinder from the freezer and put it together, pouring in the mixture to allow that to be finished in the machine. It takes me a few extra minutes plus the time in the freezer to make a marvelous ice cream that's rich and *minus* the chemicals in storei-bought ice cream. For me? It's worth the reasonable price and my health. I'm delighted with the machine.As for "easy to clean"? The *cylinder* is a breeze to clean. So is the paddle. The lid housing the motor? If you make too much ice cream in the machine and that excess gets between the lid and the motor, that's a different story. For the life of me I can't figure out to separate the two for cleaning that area! That's the only reason the "easy to clean" has 4 stars instead of 5. Still, this is a delightful machine!
