Donvier 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker

I absolutely LOVE this ice cream maker. My son and I used it for the first time tonight, following a recipe in the Donvier recipe book. Donvier Ice Cream: More Than 80 Recipes for Sorbets, Parfaits, and Frozen Drinks, with Light Variations It was *so* easy to use this machine, and my 11-yr-old had a ball helping out. Fast and super easy to use; the handle turns very easily, so long as you don't let it sit too long before giving it a couple turns. Have a timer ready and set it for 2 minutes.I found that you must immediately start turning the handle once you put the mixture in the canister, just as it says to do in the manual. They weren't kidding. Lol. It needed turned before I could even fumble with the lid and handle to get them on. Thanks to the other reviewers who said to turn it more often in the beginning. This is a MUST, lest you break the plastic paddle. It's best to have everything ready before you start, and make sure you put the paddle in *before* you pour in the mixture.What we did is to give it a couple turns every 30 seconds for the first few minutes. From there we went to once a minute for a few rounds and then about halfway through the entire cycle we only turned it once every 2 minutes. It took slightly longer than 20 minutes to get it to soft-serve consistency, but that's because I took the lid off a few times during the first several minutes to scrape the ice cream off the paddle, as it built up on the paddle very quickly in the beginning. I don't think this is necessary, but it didn't hurt anything to scrape (with a rubber spatula, of course); it just took a few minutes longer to freeze overall.I had to turn it counter-clockwise a bit several times in the beginning because it was giving too much resistance going clockwise. I just kind of went back and forth to get it unstuck. It should be done gently, but not too gently; you don't want to break it, but if you don't give it a little effort then you won't push through that initial resistance. There's a very fine line with how hard you can push it; when in doubt, go counter-clockwise for half a turn or so and then go clockwise for a couple turns. Rock it back and forth a few times, if needed, to get it going.It's HIGHLY unlikely that I will *ever* buy store-bought ice cream again. I was buying Alden's organic and it was super expensive and they used thickeners and stabilizers (albeit from natural sources), AND they didn't have strawberry or any other really cool flavors like we can create at home. I can't wait to make my own healthier and organic version of Cherry Garcia. Tonight we made mixed-berry ice cream and it was so good. We followed the recipe for strawberry ice cream (from that recipe book) as a starting point. I just wish I had added chunks of chocolate. Hehe..My little boy is so happy we got this machine, and swears that it will be an heirloom one day. He's right about that, as I can see how this gadget will last for many many years when taken care of properly. He'll definitely have rights to it when I'm gone from this world and I'm sure he'll hand it down to one of his kids.I guess it would have been nice if it made more than one quart so that we didn't have to make it so often, but that's okay. All told, it took about an hour for prep, cranking, and cleaning up. It would be less than that for vanilla (no cook) ice cream, as there wouldn't be a need for using the blender (and cleaning it afterward). If you plan to do anything except the most basic vanilla ice cream, you'll need some other kitchen equipment (which most people already have): a saucepan and whisk for basic custard recipes; a blender or food processor for most of the others that contain fruit. A sifter or sieve would be helpful if using cocoa powder or powdered confectioner's sugar (aka "icing sugar" in the manual, aka 10x sugar). A sieve is useful because you can also use it to strain out seeds from fruit if you don't like their texture.The manual that comes with it was a bit of a disappointment, in that there are only just so many recipes compared to the one recipe book above, but it makes up for it by giving frozen yogurt and gelato recipes, which the book doesn't have, and the recipes it does contain are sufficient to get started. I would definitely recommend the recipe book to go along with the machine's manual, though. You can pick up a used copy for $4 with shipping. I preferred to have one in better condition, so I paid much more than 1 cent for it, but that's not necessary if you don't mind some underlining.Highly recommended item. I doubt you will be disappointed unless you break the paddle or don't keep the canister in the freezer long enough (I'm going to store mine permanently in my extra freezer to avoid that issue). Just follow the reviewer's techniques for stirring often enough in the beginning, and the manual's hints for using the machine in general, and you should be satisfied. It *does* make a soft-serve consistency, so make sure to freeze it for a few hours or overnight if that doesn't suit you, depending on how hard you like your ice cream.If you don't like the texture or consistency of uncooked ice cream, then use the recipes that have eggs in them, which will produce a custard-type of ice cream (that you have to cook and then chill overnight). Adding egg whites or some white GMO-free corn syrup (or honey, perhaps?) will help to keep it smoother if you plan to keep it in the freezer longer than a few days. Also, if the stored ice cream is too hard to get out of your container (I used a one-quart glass pyrex dish with a lid), the recipe book says to put the container in the fridge for about a half hour before serving.I didn't want to take 10 minutes for cooking a custard, but I did take a minute or so to improve the finished texture by quickly heating a small amount of the milk (1/3 c or so) with the full amount of the sugar (2/3 c) so that my organic sugar would be dissolved (it's larger in grain size than bleached white sugar). I didn't feel the need to chill the mixture first before adding it to the frozen canister. Perhaps if I had, then I wouldn't have had to freeze/crank it so long, but I think it equaled out in time spent overall making the batch. Like I said, it was very easy to turn the handle, so having to spend a few more minutes in freezing time was no big deal (except that I wanted to start eating it right when the mixture started forming into ice cream!). Definitely a good exercise in patience and will-power. Lol.

So this is a pretty basic piece of equipment. You have the canister you freeze, and the plastic housing, along with the blade and the handle. As soon as I took this this thing out of the box, the bottom of the plastic container fell off, and then part of the handle fell off as well(not the detachable handle used to turn blade, rather the handle that is supposed to be permanently fixed onto the plastic housing). TERRIBLE CONSTRUCTION, overall, do not buy this overpriced thing, I am sure that other manual ice cream makers out there do the exact same thing, probably with much less hassle, for a LOT cheaper than 65 dollars.-Jennifer

I love this ice cream maker, which churns out delicious homemade ice cream in about 40 minutes (20 minutes for VERY soft ice cream). It's easy to clean, makes enough for my family, and we love taking turns stirring it. My only complaint is that the plastic seal you fit around the circumference of the frozen container once the container has been placed into the outer plastic shell (that you see above), is nearly impossible to fit. I cannot do it on my own and have to ask my husband to force it into place. Very frustrating. Most times, I get about half of the seal and leave the other half unsealed. The clear plastic top still fits on, but the mixture doesn't stay as cool. Would still recommend this ice cream maker. We put our seal in the dishwasher, so perhaps that warped it. I would recommend hand washing the seal.

When I was growing up, my mom would always use a Donvier ice cream maker to make homemade ice cream. Now that I'm an adult, I wanted to recapture this wonderful memory. I am happy to report that after 20 years, Donvier is still making a durable and solid product. I am making strawberry ice cream as I write this, and it is coming out beautifully. The ice cream maker is a cinch to use, and all the parts wash up easily.Now we can make any flavor ice cream we want at home, and we can control the ingredients. I can make sure there are no artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners. I can make it richer or lighter, depending on whether I use more cream or more milk. I can make sherbet, sorbet, and ice cream. I can use fresh berries when in season! I can churn several different flavors and keep them on hand in the freezer. It's also fun to make ice cream for dessert when you have guests over - they will be impressed and can take turns cranking the handle.This particular model only makes 1 quart of ice cream, but for my husband and me that is enough for a couple of nights. If you have a family or if you intend to use the Donvier for regular entertaining, then I would recommend getting a larger model like a 1.5 or 2 quart size. I haven't checked to see if they make those, but I seem to recall that the one we had when I was a kid was larger. Then again, everything seems bigger when you're a kid. :)All in all a GREAT product. I would buy again and I would certainly buy it for others as a gift.

The thing would never stay put together when ever we tried to mix ice cream in it. We got rid of it.

easy to use

Works well and gives the family a fun activity other than electronics

I didn't find the ice cream made creamy.it is not easy to churn and ice cream didn't set properly even after 30 min.I don't recommend this product for the price.

I never really used it and then the liner corroded and got a pinprick hole and it was junk

Easy to make!