Cuisinart ICE-40 Flavor Duo Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker

I haven't had this a month yet but I've made 4 batches of ice cream. The first one turned out softer than I had wanted and just got softer the longer I ran it. I was starting to regret my purchase but decided to wait til I'd made more ice cream in it to really judge it. I'm so glad I waited - it makes GREAT ice cream! Comes out as soft serve but I put it in the chest freezer for awhile and it's hard. The soft serve way is ok to eat - frozen quite a lot actually - especially around the sides. I now know why the first batch wouldn't get hard enough - I'd only had the bowls in the chest freezer 6 hours and that was from delivery temp., room temp. and hot water dish washing temp. Now it's at least 5 days in between the times I make a batch and it gets as hard, if not harder, than my freezer makes I have to use ice and rock salt with. And without all that mess! The first batch was made with one of the packages you can buy at the grocery store - won't be using that again - it gets rock solid hard in the chest freezer - ugh! Since then I've used the sweetened condensed milk recipe and it's soft enough to dip right out of the chest freezer - but it's very sweet. Today I used a recipe that calls for a pudding package (small,) an egg (cooked custard before freezing), and Splenda sugar blend, and it turned out great. We were buying Blue Bell and now we have homemade that tastes as good a Blue Bell for a lot less than Blue Bell costs. I'm so glad I purchased this! AND, Amazon has the best price for it AND free shipping!! Can't beat that....

I ordered this ice cream maker for my daughter's 9th birthday, along with the Ben & Jerry's ice cream recipe book. I wasn't sure if it was a dumb gift for such a young girl, but she was thrilled. She's very creative so I let her decide the first two flavors that we should try. Her picks? #1 Banana Goodbar (her favorite candybar is Mr. Goodbar, so we got creative and put crushed candybar, mashed banana, and a touch of lemon juice in the standard vanilla recipe) and #2 Choke Cherry Watermelon (LOL) which turned out surprisingly good (she decided to pick choke cherries this afternoon so we added them (pitted), a bit of sugar, and small watermelon chunks to Ben & Jerry's #1 Sweet Cream Base). I seriously had my doubts about these, but it was her choice. Both turned out really good and were very easy to make. The machine worked perfectly and was very easy to use. I especially liked that she was able to help with all the steps. It was easy to clean and the bowls are already back in the freezer for next time. It seems that we will only be limited by our own creativity. Should be lots of fun! My one real problem? I have a belly ache from eating too much.

My wife gave this to me for my birthday a few weeks ago to replace our old salt-and-ice ice cream maker and we are well pleased with it. The ice cream is smooth, freezes as promised (soft serve) and is fun to do 2 flavors at once (or a double batch of the same flavor). I especially like the quick and simple vanila recipes in the book (chocolate is considerably harder to do right at home). While it's true that it is a little noisy, it is quieter than our old one. We've already made 6 flavors. It is great!

I have recently switched to a strict Paleo diet to treat IBS. Unfortunately, there isn't a single brand of ice cream on the market that conforms completely to the diet. Now I can make my own. I have made about a half dozen batches in the couple of months that I have owned this little gem. Pros: -I love that you can make two kinds at once, as my friends don't have the same dietary restrictions as myself and can use whatever recipe they want. It makes for a fun ice cream party. -It only takes 20 minutes to make a batch. You can't run to the store and buy ice cream that fast! -It makes just enough in one tub to enjoy some now and put some away for later. -You don't need ice or salt, you just freeze the tubs thoroughly. I recommend keeping at least one in the freezer all the time, for whenever the craving strikes. As previously stated, you can't run out and buy ice cream in 20 minutes. Semi-Cons: -It is best freshly churned, because I find that it freezes kind of hard when you store it in the freezer. That is easily remedied by either letting it sit out for a few minutes or zapping it in the microwave for a few seconds before you enjoy it. -Make sure you get all of the ice cream out of the tub QUICKLY, as soon as it is finished. I tried dipping mine into storage containers, directly from the tub the first time. Before I could get it all out, a good size layer had frozen to the inside of the tub so hard that I had to wait for it to melt to get it out. Wasted ice cream. :( Get it all into an unfrozen container as quickly as you can, then distribute to storage containers. A good silicon spatula is a must to scrape the sides.

I was a bit nervous when I read the negative reviews since I was recently burned with a thermometer, but since the postive reviews outweighed the bad I decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did! When I got it, the freezer bowls were already really cold from being outside so long in the middle of winter. I washed them and had them in the deep freezer within 20 minutes of bringing them inside. Six hours later they were fozen solid and I made vanilla ice cream with chopped up candy bar in one, and sort of a Boston cooler in the other (vanilla ice cream with Vernors - if you're not from Michigan, it's like ginger ale only 1000X better). In 20 minutes I had awesome ice cream. I can't express enough how pleased I am with this product. I keep the bowls in the freezer so that whenever the mood strikes, they are ready to go. And, no, I'm not a shill for Cuisinart. I've never even *met* anyone who worked for the company. I simply know how to follow the directions.