I’ve got many ice cream recipe books – I recommend this one (Amazon link, no scummy referral codes). Along with all of the basics you’ll want, it has many unusual sweet and savory ice creams. Corn is fantastic.
Was all set to buy it but decided to check Amazon. A lot of the reviews say the arm stops churning/breaks due to shoddy plastic construction. thinking it could be user Error cause the unit also got a lot of good reviews too.
Anyone able to opine one way or another??
Strange that the reviewer talks about putting the freezer bowl in the freezer first. Can we be sure she is talking about the ICE-50BC which has the freezer compressor built in? Or do you get better results by freezing the little metal bowl first?
I am not sure why the Square Trade Warranty was not showing. I made a few adjustments and it is showing now. Thanks for the heads up.
I haven’t heard the other model, but I’d say it’s almost as noisy as the ancient ice/salt one we had before, perhaps a bit quieter (unless they’ve improved it over the last couple years to further reduce the noise level or something). You wouldn’t want to carry on a deep conversation right next to it, but if it’s on the other side of the room it becomes a somewhat annoying but less overwhelming noise. I’ve heard of people putting it inside a cupboard and closing the door. I suspect that might tend to trap some of the heat and slow down the freezing process a bit though.
I’m thinking you’re gonna want to give it a lot of use during the 90 day warranty just to be sure. On the other hand, with a quality name like Cuisinart and a $399 MSRP originally, I wouldn’t think it was cheap junk and the glowing reviews certainly outnumber the bad ones.
So what would I be putting in this to get my ice cream out? And can I control the temperature/consistency? Like softserve v whatever you get when you go to the store?
Ah. Well, I’m not actually in the market for an ice cream maker right now, but I gotta say that I would be unlikely to need more than a quart and a half of ice cream every day or two, if nearly that much. Seeing as I’m one person living alone.
Thanks much.
I used to own a Delonghi ICK-8500 and it is very similar to this Cuisinart ICE50BC. The compressor part makes very little noise, about as much as your refrigerator does. The loud part comes from the motor turning the paddles, as I suppose it has to be pretty strong to churn the ice cream as it starts to harden. Have you ever tried taking finished ice cream and tried to stir it up real good? Pretty hard to do.
But it wasn’t so loud you couldn’t do other things, and you only have to put up for it for about an hour or less before you get the reward for all your effort, wonderful home made ice cream or sorbet!
I bought a spare motor arm for mine two years ago thinking that part might conk out like some of the early reviews said, but so far it hasn’t happened. If it does, I’ll be ready though. I forget how much the extra arm cost since I also got a spare bowl and cover at the same time. If one were to run it with the arm not seated correclty to both the ice cream bowl cover and the unit I can see how that might strain more since it would be loose. If installed properly the arm should fit snugly and not rock back and forth when running.
Can be bought new at Amazon.com for $213 free ship,
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007XOHN6/
So buying a refurb for $70 less (30% discount) still a great deal, although the new one comes with a 3 year limited warranty instead of the 90-day one we get here.
Great ice cream maker at a great price. If I didn’t already have a Cuisinart model with two bowls I would jump at this. Remember to chill every single part and ingredient you can beforehand. That goes for every ice cream maker.
Now that you have the ice cream, what are you going to put it on?..
Here are a few Waffle Cone and Ice Cream Cone Recipes from Zaccardi’s…
Cuisinart’s name isn’t nearly what it used to be. I bought some stuff from them in the past year or so and was extremely underwhelmed. Their customer service also has much to be desired. I called them about their bread machine and instead of trying to help me troubleshoot, they told me I just didn’t know how to make the bread and go with a different brand. The crust was burnt on the lowest setting.(I love my Panasonic BTW). Bottom line… Don’t think it is great because of the name alone.
Mix chilled milk, cream, sugar, vanilla. Pour into the bowl. Put the bowl into the machine and attach the cover/arm. Set timer to 45 minutes and you’ll have something similar to soft-serve. Set it shorter for a small batch or if you’re looking for more of a slushy. Set it closer to an hour (possibly even longer) to get a bit stiffer consistency, but when it gets too hard to turn the motor will start to strain and reverse back and forth. Shut it off if it does that, I’m sure it’s quite hard on the motor/gerabox in the arm. You probably won’t find a home machine that makes hard ice cream directly. For that it’s best to make it and then put it in the freezer for a while to harden up more. While that’s going on, you can start another batch if desired.
I’m the first sucker to woot this tonight. wow, that’s never happened before.
In the past I used to love making ice cream and sorbet with my old automatic ice cream maker. Having the compressor built in allows you to make ice cream without having to plan ahead for freezing the bowl.
I would use a generic vanilla based ice cream recipe, and then add exotic fruit to the mixture, like canned lychees, or durian, sometimes mangoes. It was always a hit at parties, the fresh ice cream and fruit flavors make asian family members go ga-ga especially if you use the more exotic ones (star fruit, mangosteens, jackfruit, etc).
If you’re in a pinch, I also found that just freezing some of the Welch’s exotic fruit juices like passionfruit or limeade made a really easy sorbet that was just delicious. The machine mixes it up so it’s airy and light, so you’re not eating a fruit popsicle.
I refuse to throw good money after bad on ANY Con Air brand again. There’s a good reason their name starts with"con"! Some of the worst customer “service” I have ever encountered. Caveat emptor!
Precisely the kind of experience I’ve head with several of Con Air’s companies products. And “warranty” might as well mean “hahaha! We have your money. Nyah!!”.
I guess they must actually take some of their crappy products back… Or are these pre-broken at the factory and “refurbished” there? I wouldn’t put it past them.
Here’s a list of Con Air companies:
http://www.conair.com/corporate-cn-10.html
I notice Waring is on the list. Also a heavily represented “refurb” brand here at woot.
FWIW, Kitchen Aid went above and beyond to resolve just a minor cosmetic problem and I’ve been running the Hell out of that machine for YEARS. Great company that Kitchen Aid! Let’s get their refurbs in here. 