Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Machine, 1.5 Quart Sorbet, Frozen Yogurt Maker, Double Insulated, White, ICE-21P1

I bought this because I wanted to try making my own ice cream. After making a test batch of chocolate ice cream I don't think I'll purchase store bought ice cream again. The quality of the ice cream is awesome, smooth and creamy.This is a heavy sturdy product, the freezer bowl has some weight to it. The paddle is made of plastic, I would prefer it be metal but at this price point it makes sense it's plastic. There have been some comments on the noise level, but I don't feel it's overly loud. From the comments I've read and videos I've seen it much quitter than I expected.The recipes that come with the manual are the best place to start. The Chocolate ice cream recipe is really good and was a great starting point. Additionally, they can be modified. I used the Strawberry ice cream recipe as a base for making Cherry and Blue Berry Ice cream and they turned out great.I would say that these recipes will make a bit more than 1.5qt., as another reviewer commented you only want to fille the freezer bowl to about three quarters of the way to allow to the ice cream to expand. So using the recipes will over-flow the bowl once the ice cream starts to solidify.Overall I'd say it's well worth it.

This is a great little ice cream maker for my purposes eating carnivore. It’s a little noisy, sounds a bit like an older bread machine that self kneads the dough. It’s not the worst, especially for the amazing end result.***MAKE SURE THE MIXING PADDLE IS ALREADY IN THE MACHINE AND THE MACHINE IS TURNED ON BEFORE POURING ANYTHING IN***There is definitely a learning curve with it. I’m using it for a sugar free keto/carnivore ice cream recipe (2 cups heavy cream+5 egg yolks+vanilla extract+some stevia sweetener). Do yourself a favor fellow carnivores and thoroughly beat all your ingredients with a hand mixer for a few minutes until smooth, THEN pour it into the ice cream machine. It comes out DELICIOUS and creamy, better than anything store bought.I had perfect frozen custard within about 12 minutes, and the ice cream barrel had been in the freezer for about 17 hours before I placed it on the machine. Just shake it first to make sure it’s frozen solid and there’s no sloshing within the barrel. It gets a really even cold surface and evenly freezes the ingredients, awesome end result for a budget ice cream maker.Since you can’t put the barrel in the dishwasher, Easiest way I’ve found to clean it is just let it sit out for a few hours to melt all the residue off the sides, then wash it out with antibacterial dawn. Let the churning paddle sit in the barrel full of soapy water and swish it around to clean it simultaneously, then dry it off and pop it back in the freezer so it’s ready next time you’re wanting a frozen treat.My only gripe with it is that the churning paddle is plastic, would’ve preferred metal, but it works well enough once locked into place.

I had this sitting in a box for about two months. Amazon had a deal I couldn’t pass up, so I bought it before I even knew what I was going to do with it. This week, I finally pulled it out, and now I’m using it almost every day.As a vegan, anything outside a typical plant-based setup usually takes a little more thought. But with this machine, I found some really creative ways to make vegan ice cream that actually taste good. It’s simple to clean if you do it right after using it, and I’d give the clean-up process a solid 10.One thing to know though: that bowl has to be frozen for 24 hours before you can use it. That part caught me off guard. I was ready to make ice cream immediately, but science said no. Once I got past that, though, it was smooth sailing.

Trying to get healthy, I was looking for a way to keep some low-fat and non-fat frozen dessert options on hand for the summer. I planned to make batches and pack in half-pint containers, hoping I had the self-control to eat just one at a clip.I followed all directions, froze the bowl for two days in my sub-zero freezer, and using the included Simple Vanilla Ice Cream recipe, I subbed nonfat half and half for the milk and cream. The mixture churned for about twenty minutes, producing a truly tasty soft-serve ice cream, although it did start to melt kinda fast. I packed the rest into a freezer container, froze it at well below zero, and was disappointed a few hours later to find a concoction that looked and tasted like a gummy kinetic sand.Thinking it may have been the undetected corn syrup in the nonfat half-and-half (so much for health!), I tried it again today, following the recipe exactly, with full-fat milk and cream. I wound up with a pleasant soft serve, but it was a little grainy, and another stay in the freezer didn't improve it.The bottom line: If you have more than one person to eat a quart and a half of soft-serve when it's done churning, and you tend toward higher-fat recipes, you may like this machine. Remember that the less fat in the mixture, the more ice cream will stick to the inside of the bowl; it's not a defect, it's just science. I tried an oatmilk mixture as well, and ended up with a small, odd-tasting slushy, and a thick icy layer on the bowl that had to be melted off during cleaning. For that reason, I tend to doubt that it would produce a nice gelato or sorbet. The paddle does not rotate on this model; the bowl rotates around the paddle, and this may be the reason for the mixed results. To clean the bowl, I'd recommend letting it rest on the counter a bit before washing gently with lukewarm water and a mild dish soap, and then drying it thoroughly before freezing it again.Maybe it's me - this machine is well-loved by many, and earned my four stars for the lovely soft-serve alone. But it doesn't work well for what I need to make and freeze, and for that reason I'll be returning it and trying a different model with a smaller capacity.