Whether you’re entertaining the kids or making that perfect dessert to top off your home cooked gourmet meal, ice cream makers are great way to have fun while making a delicious treat for friends and family. Making ice cream is not only fun, it can be quick and easy and there are a wide variety of ice cream makers on the market today. Choosing the right unit for your needs is essential as it will dictate the three key aspects of making ice cream – level of involvement, time, and space requirements. Pronto’s Ice Cream Maker Buying guide will give you an overview of the major ice cream makers available and help you decide which one is right for you.
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What separates ice cream makers today is the method used to cool the ice cream to the appropriate temperature. If time isn’t an issue, choose a manual maker that cools using a rock salt and ice mixture. If you don’t want to wait, cold-accumulators will produce ice cream in a ¼ the time, but you have to pre-freeze the mixing bowl for 6-24 hours beforehand. Self-coolers use small compressors to cool the ice cream, but are the most expensive of the three.
Determining your needs
For use with children, choose a manual-style model, but if you’re looking to end the perfect meal at home with the perfect homemade treat, go for a cold-accumulating or electric self-cooling ice cream maker.
Size and space considerations
Manual ice cream makers are often quite bulky compared to their electric brethren. However, cold-accumulating machines require a pre-frozen bowl which will take up space in your freezer. Be honest about how often you’ll use it and how much space you have before making a decision.
How much ice cream can it make?
Just because a canister size is 1.5 quarts doesn’t mean that you’ll get 1.5 quarts of ice cream—you need space for the paddles and the air they mix in. A common canister size for electronic models is 1-2 quarts whereas the manual ice cream makers are often 6 quarts and up.
Features to keep in mind
Be wary of thin or cheap looking plastic pieces as they may easily break under constant use. Broken paddles are the most common complaint consumers have about ice cream makers.
We like the Krups GVS142 Ice Cream Maker ($40) for several reasons, not the least of which is solid paddle construction and easy disassembly for cleaning. This electric cold-accumulating ice cream maker produces up to 1.5 quarts of ice cream in about 20-30 minutes. Best of all, the motor runs quietly. Want quality homemade ice cream at a reasonable price? Get yourself the Krups GVS142 and don’t forget to invite us over!
Kitchen Junkie – “If you want to make a large quantity of ice cream, you will need to purchase a model that uses rock salt and ice. The canister models will only make up to 1.5 quarts at a time. If you would like to turn ice cream making into a family activity, you can choose the hand-crank model, which will also use rock salt and ice. A electric crank is quite a bit easier than the manual crank models. You will also get more consistent results due to the bowl turning at a constant speed.” Source: Kitchen Junkie
Ice Cream Recipes.com – “Homemade ice cream containing fresh fruit is tastier than commercial fruit ice cream, simply because you can achieve that 'just picked flavor' by using really fresh fruit in your recipe.” Source: ice-cream-recipes.com
Cook's Illustrated magazine – “The Krups Ice Cream Maker pleased almost everybody, mixing smooth, creamy ice cream that was neither too light nor too dense. It was also quiet, and the motor and structural parts could be disassembled for easy storage.” Source: Cook's Illustrated Magazine
hot buzzWhat's the latest in the world of ice cream makers?
Trendy New York sushi spot 15 East has reached acclaim for some of the finest sushi available in a city known for sushi. But, it comes as a chilly and sweet surprise to find ice cream on the dessert menu. Trio of homemade ice cream and sorbet, features a choice of, chocolate, plum wine, coconut, ginger, or kasu ice cream. You may not be able to replicate sushi greatness at home, but coconut ice cream will be within your reach, you can find coconut and green tea recipes here: http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com/unusual_recipes.htm
What’s good for colleagues of Alice Waters, is great for…the rest of us! Former long-time Chez Panisse pastry chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz says he can’t live without his Cuisinart ICE-50BC. Its price makes it in an investment, but for self-refrigerating machines Lebovitz considers the cost, starting at about $299, to be “…a real powerhouse and I consider it an indispensable part of my batterie de cuisine nowadays.”
What’s good for colleagues of Alice Waters, is great for…the rest of us! Former long-time Chez Panisse pastry chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz says he can’t live without his Cuisinart ICE-50BC. Its price makes it in an investment, but for self-refrigerating machines Lebovitz considers the cost, starting at about $299, to be “…a real powerhouse and I consider it an indispensable part of my batterie de cuisine nowadays.”
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Ice cream makers in this price range ($30-150) will satisfy the majority of ice cream enthusiasts. Offerings in this category include basic hand-cranked units and good quality pre-frozen canister models. Both will produce quality ice cream that will easily match premium store bought brands.
Mid-price ice cream makers ($250-400) feature internal compressors that allow you create your favorite ice cream, sorbet or frozen yogurt all in one unit. With an automatic shut off indicating your ice cream is ready, these machines are extremely convenient and produce high-quality ice cream in about 40 minutes.
Considered the Cadillacs of the ice cream maker world, machines in this price range ($600+) produce professional quality frozen desserts. If you fancy yourself a rival to Ben and Jerry, these ice cream makers will help you produce rich, smooth and highly-aerated confections in about 30 minutes.
What are the terms and definitions I need to know about?
Manual
Also known as hand-cranked, this style of ice cream maker consists of an inner bowl containing the ice cream ingredients, an outer bowl which contains a rock / ice mixture for cooling, and a paddle mechanism which is rotated by hand.
Electric Cold Accumulating or Pre-frozen Canister
Electric cold accumulating ice cream makers utilize a double-walled bowl or canister that contains liquid refrigerant sealed between the walls. These units require pre-freezing the bowl or canister in a freezer before operating.
Electric Self-cooling
These machines have a built in compressor that cools the ices cream while the electric paddles churn the ice cream mixture eliminating the need to pre-freeze canisters or use a rock / ice mixture.
Rock / Salt mixture
For use in the manual models only, a rock/salt mixture is used to create just enough cooling for ice cream to form without creating ice crystals.
Paddle Mechanism
The paddle is designed to stir or churn the cooling ice cream mixture which prevents ice crystals from forming and aerates the ice cream to form a smooth and creamy consistency.
