It’s Going To Be An Excellent Summer With My Cuisinart 1.5L Ice Cream Maker.


We’re only halfway through spring but as far as I’m concerned, summer is just around the corner.  And you know how summer means ice cream?  Well, this year, I’m going to be making my own with this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker gifted to me by my kind and all round fabulous sponsors, Kitchenware Direct.

The Cuisinart catching some rays on the front verandah prior to making its first batch of ice cream in my kitchen.

The 1.5L ice cream maker is Cuisinart’s basic (and hence SSG disaster proof) model.

It looks great on a kitchen bench top, doesn’t take up much room and is pretty light.  All the components are solidly built and putting things together is pretty self explanatory.  There are a number of guide notches that indicate when things have been securely fastened together.  There is no timer on this model so you have to keep an eye on mixing times yourself.  When in use, the noise level isn’t much softer than a Kitchenaid stand mixer.

The freezer bowl fits under the easy-lock lid.  The top of the lid is open and remains so during the ice cream making process so that any hard additions to your dessert like choc chips can be added in the last few minutes of churning.  The central mixing paddle is plastic and fits ‘circle up’ in the middle of the freezer bowl.  I suggest attaching the paddle before pouring in your ice cream mixture or else things can get very messy.

I found it easy to hand wash each component of the ice cream maker, the freezer bowl specifically is not dishwasher safe.  Its double wall contains a freezing agent that sloshes around unless frozen, which is one way to tell when the bowl is ready for use in the machine.

Would it surprise you that the first ice cream I made with my machine was rum and raisin?  I haven’t been able to find it at the supermarket for ages and the times I’ve eaten it at ice cream parlours, there hasn’t been enough rum or raisin.  The ice cream maker comes with some basic recipes for ice creams, frozen yoghurts and sorbets but I used this recipe because it was pretty straight forward and didn’t involve raw eggs.

In addition to soaking my raisins overnight, I also froze the freezer bowl the night before I required it.  If you’re anything like me, freezer space can be at a premium but I managed to accommodate the bowl close to the rear to enable it to freeze faster.

It’s pretty sobering to realise that all you really need to make ice cream are 4 ingredients whilst the average label on store bought ice cream easily runs to around 20 things.  I used a mixture of double and pure cream for a reason I don’t actually recall right now.  But it made sense at the time.  Then you need sugar, vanilla essence and ….

FULL FAT milk.

Mindful of the last time I tried to use a hand whisk to combine cream and milk, I used my Kitchenaid with a splatter guard and the kitchen was all the tidier for it.  In hindsight, I should have done this the night before as well because the machine seems to work best when everything is fully chilled when added to the ice cream maker.

The rum soaked chopped raisins and their liquid were added to the mixture last.  When using alternate recipes outside of the recipe book, be sure to calculate the total volume the recipe will make and modify if it’s going to be more than around 6 cups otherwise the ice cream maker won’t be able to work as effectively.

It takes 20 minutes of churning to get a pretty soft ice cream.

Because I didn’t get my mixture down to a cool enough temperature, my ice cream was pretty liquid at the end of the churning process.  Perhaps the custard or raw egg based recipes work best if you need your ice cream at a solid consistency straight away.

It is suggested that you decant your ice cream from the freezer bowl before putting it into the freezer.

I froze my ice cream for an extra 4 hours to get a very solid consistency.  I was impressed that despite my inexperience, I got a pretty dense ice cream without too many crystals.  Also, the raisins didn’t all sink to the bottom of the container during the freezing process.

It might make only 1.5L of ice cream but somehow, a little goes a long way when you’re talking about home made ice cream that’s pretty much 100% cream and milk.

Pros

  • well constructed and a reasonable price for a basic ice cream maker
  • the machine was easy to use
  • components were easy to wash
  • great tasting ice cream that was easy to make

Cons

  • the need to freeze the bowl before use
  • the need for all ingredients to be well chilled before being used, forward planning a day or so in advance is required but may not be convenient for everyone 
  • 1.5L of ice cream may not be enough for a larger household
  • not being able to store ice cream in the freezer bowl
  • the lack of timer on the machine means that you need to be on the ball yourself to work out when to add your larger ingredients during the churning process.

Final comments

I think that the Cuisinart 1.5L Ice Cream maker delivers what it promises.  Some planning and preparation is required though.  I found it easy to use and maintain and look forward to making all sorts of different flavoured ice creams this summer.

The Cuisinart 1.5L Ice Cream Maker was provided to me by Kitchenware Direct for the purpose of this review.


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