Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker - 2 Quart ICE-30BC Review

We purchased this ice cream maker about six months ago and we LOVE it!  We have made chocolate ice cream, peach ice cream, blueberry icecream, and mocha/chocolate chunk ice cream to name a few!

We purchased this as an impulse buy at Sam's Club.  I usually read reviews before making a purchase like this, but it was a great buy, we had the money, and I trusted the Cuisenaire brand.  When I got home, I looked up some reviews and got nervous after reading many reviews which claimed that the ice cream wouldn't get thick enough.  Fortunately, there were also many reviews describing what to do to get the ice cream just right!

Here our our secrets to sucess:  First, make your mix an hour or so ahead of time.  I usually mix everything in a ziplock bag, press out the air, and place it in the fridge.  Maybe 30 minutes or so before making the ice cream I lay the bag flat in the freezer.  I'm not looking to freeze the bag solid, but to get it VERY cold.  If it freezes a bit around the edges that is fine.

Second, turn the ice cream maker on before adding the mix.  Don't know why, but it helps.

Third, the resulting ice cream will be like very firm soft serve.  If you want your ice cream really, really hard, then just put it in a plastic container and freeze it for a little while - less than an hour should do the trick.

The MOST important thing is that the bowl be REALLY frozen solid before use.  It will take 24 hours or even more before using it the first time.  Freezing it for a couple of days is ideal.  Once you use it the first time, just keep it cold and it won't take much time at all before it is ready to use.  We scoop the ice cream out with a firm rubber spatula as soon as it is done, immediately rinse the bowl well with cold water, dry, put in a 2 gallon ziplock, and refreeze.  I've done two batches of ice cream in one day this way.  I didn't want to invest in a second bowl - two batches in one day is enough for even our big family, and if we are entertaining (ice cream parties are so fun!) I can do two batches one day and two the next (freezing each one in a plastic box) to be sure to have plenty!

BTW, I've never used a recipe that needed a cooked custard, and I really didn't think this was noisy enough to be an issue at all.