Cuisinart ICE-20P1 Automatic 1 5-Quart Frozen Yogurt Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker Makes Frozen Treats in less than

I bought this maker after reading reviews on forums. I use it to make non-dairy ice cream with Vances Dari-Free which is a powdered milk substitute made from potatoes. It works absolutely brilliantly and for the first time in a decade I actually had 'ice cream'. With Vances you must pre-make the ice cream mix in a pot and heat it. The mix must be allowed to cool in fridge for a few hours. Then simply place it in the Cuisinart and turn on. In a half hour you end up with a soft serve ice cream that tastes just like the real thing. The device is so easy to use and clean we've been using it every day! This is one of the greatest items I have purchased in a long time and I only regret that I waited so long to get one. Here's my recipe I developed: In a pot add: 9 tablespoons of powdered Vances Darifree (or any powdered milk) 3 tablespoons of tapioca starch flour 6 tablespoons of sugar 3 cups of water Turn heat on medium and whisk constantly to combine the dry mix with water and to prevent sticking to the pot. The mix will begin to thicken after a few minutes. Now add: 1/3 cup of any butter, margarine of choice + 1 or 2 teaspoons of Vanilla or other extract Continue heating and whisking until the mixture is completely combined and thickened. I do this until it begins a low boil - bubbles and steam begin. Cool in fridge and follow ice cream maker instructions. * If you want to use soy milk, rice milk or other milk simply eliminate the powdered Vances and water and replace with any 3 cups liquid substitute. * If you want to make Carob or Chocolate ice cream add 1/4 cup powdered cocoa or roasted carob to the dry mix. Read more

With apologies to Rocky Road, the best ice cream in the world is simple -- eating ice cream in Italy can be a transcendental experience because most gelato captures the essence of one flavor and makes it taste like a revelation. But in supermarkets the ice cream we buy relies on cheap ingredients and shortcuts to texture, all of which is revealed most when the flavor is most simple. But with this Cuisinart, you can chose the ingredients and I suggest you seek out the best: Quality, organic cream and milk, the best cocoa powder (I love Callebaut), intensely ripe fruit. The result is ice cream that puts to shame what you can find in these stores. Using high quality ingredients isn't cheap -- but for me ice cream is a special occasion treat that I want to savour with family and friends. Using the Cuisinart has been simple. Two elements are critical: Making sure the bowl is fully frozen -- just keep it in the freezer -- and that the liquid you put in has had time to drop to as low as possible without freezing. I keep the bowl inside a large zip lock bag in our chest freezer - the bag keeps it from absorbing off-flavors. As for cooling the liquid, many need to be heated to absorb sugar or chocolate so it's best to prepare it no later than the night before, or better yet, 24 hours in advance. When the bowl and liquid are properly prepared it takes about 25 minutes to make ice cream. At that point you have two options. For a soft serve texture it can be served right away or soon after it's placed in the freezer; for a hard ice cream, two hours in the freezer is usually sufficient. We find the 1 1/2 quart size to be sufficient for our family of four and the quantity can be enough to serve double that if ice cream is an element to a dessert -- I like serving a smaller scoop of cinnamon ice cream (using just-ground cinnamon sticks) with any sort of baked apple/pie/tarte tat in. If you are looking to make more than one flavor having a second bowl is handy. The reliability has been excellent so far after 3 years of use. The noise level is perfectly reasonable to me -- far less grating than a blender and the whirr of the motor is also a clue to when it's ready -- it slows a bit as the ice cream reached the end stage of thickening. Read more

This is the first ice cream maker I have purchased, and this seems to have been a good choice. So far I have made dark chocolate gelato that came out fantastic, and some strawberry frozen yogurt. After 25-30 minutes in the machine, the consistency and texture are quite good...definitely hard enough to eat immediately. I wish the recipe book was bigger, but I found the gelato recipe on line (epicurious, I believe) and it worked fine (except the custard is kind of a pain to make, lots of stirring and constant attention...). After having lived in Italy for a year, I really missed creamy Italian gelato, and so now I have my own way to make it. And it's also nice because I know exactly what goes into every batch. After you remove the leftovers to the freezer, it is necessary to let them defrost for a little while before serving them, because the ice cream/yogurt, etc. gets hard (no commercial softeners in there). Not a big deal though. This machine is pretty loud, but nothing too unbearable. I would recommend it for anyone interested in a small, easy to clean, easy to use, ice cream maker. Read more