CuisinartICE-100 1.5-Quart Ice Cream and Gelato Maker, Fully Automatic with a Commercial Quality Compressor and 2-Paddles, 10-Minute Keep Cool Feature, Black and Stainless Steel

UPDATE REVIEW - 10 October, 2014LOVE LOVE LOVE this machine!!!!I have made many batches of vegan ice cream. Carob Rocky Road (minus the marshmallows as I don't have vegan ones), mint carob chip, cookie dough, cherry garcia. On the experiment list strawberry, and peach.I have found a good base mix to be 3 cups of soy milk, .25 cup cashews, .5 cup of a neutral oil. 1/2 tsp xanthan gum. Then add sweeteners and other goodies to your liking. Some recipes should have a little less milk depends on how many other ingredients you add in your initial base recipe and then bearing in mind how many goodies you will add in the end. I have overflowed the machine because to many ingredients and it wasn't that hard to clean up. I have taped a mark onto my vita-mix how much is to much so I can go by that whilst making the mixture. I have filled it past the highest paddle arm by some and when I do and I see the ice cream starts to expand I just pause the machine and take out some and put it in the freezer. I think I have gotten nearly 2 quarts out of a full, full batch but defiantly wouldn't do this all the time and also I wouldn't let it go to the full 60 minutes if it starts to get thick as I don't want to overburden the machine. But totally workable if you are needing a larger batch and don't mind a little extra clean-up.I have noticed when making Carob ice cream if I used toasted carob powder vs. light carob powder it makes a whole new tasting experience. I don't need to use any pero to give it a sharp flavor that chocolate can have to mask the carob flavor and it comes out even closer to chocolate ice cream. I have had chocolate eaters eat my ice cream and cannot even tell there is no chocolate in it. :-)One thing my husband likes about this ice cream is that after it has been in the freezer overnight it does firm up even more but never to the point that it is hard to get out like ice cream can do. Hence, probably the reason I have not made gelato yet as that tends to be a harder texture... I will try someday... but maybe I am a bit reluctant because after having ice cream made by the most famous and BEST gelato makers in (Giollitti) don't want to disappoint myself. But I should give it a go though... just to try it out. Though I do realise that your end product whether it be ice cream of gelato a lot of the success of the treat depends on your recipe. So I am still experimenting all the while keeping people happy.Next on the list... some type of waffle maker, not sure if I want to go with a large or small waffle cone maker. Pros of a waffle maker you can essentially make any size you want just use more or less batter. Cons you cannot do as many at a time than with the smaller waffle cone makers.PS. I didn't wait the full 24 hours. I think I started my first batch at 20 hours after opening.ORIGINAL POSTSo this just arrived today! Yeah! having read EVERY review here on Amazon I decided to purchase this product. Actually I read about 4 pages purchased and then whilst waiting for it to arrive I read the rest of them. Whew for Amazon Prime fast shipping! While we patiently wait the 24 hour period before the machine can be used I have already made up two batches of different kinds of ice creams I have made in the past without a maker.I think I will add a couple of thoughts that I have not read thus far.I downloaded the manual right after I purchased it and before it arrived and read it through to get an idea of what I am looking for recipe ideas. We are vegan so most of them I already know will not apply to me but what they have provided can be gleaned from as far as ratios.Recipes in which the base needs to be brought just to a boil I don't know that I will ever do this as we are not using dairy products, and with the vita-mix if I let it blend long enough it gets piping hot. If this doesn't work I may try to heat my bases.I have made ice cream in the past with the base being garbanzo beans, soy milk, cane sugar, and other flavorings and some lecithin (which is extremely messy so I only make sure to pour it while the blender is going into the vortex and try not to touch anything but the ice cream base with the oil because it is a pain to clean.) This is healthier and less fattening. I KNOW I will be moving more in this direction because a. cheaper b. healthier c. still tastes just as good as any other ice cream. I'd like to even try other grains.I read a review on another web page and the writer mentioned they make their own creamer using 1 cup of soy milk and 1/4 cup margarine. I took that idea and used ev coconut oil. They mentioned they always soften the margarine before use but again kudos to the vita-mix no need for this step.Also some vegan recipes that call for cashews say to soak nuts for x amount of time. But I am thinking since I am making it the day before and it sits already for such a long time post blended I will forgo this step. I am wondering if it is suggested to blend the cashews if someone does not have a high-powered blender. I have had to do this. Also in a pinch and without a high-powered blender I have processed my cashews and nuts in a seed grinder (we don't drink coffee so I call it a seed grinder which is a Hamilton Beach custom coffee grinder with extra large removable basket GREAT for cleaning purposes especially after flax!)I read only once before about Tovolo products! Highly recommend these storage containers for your ice cream to prevent crystal build up (never used it but on other Tovolo reviews they are ranted and raved about to do a good job at this. Also we got the Tilt Up Ice Cream Scoop, this thing is heavy duty... you could almost use it as a weapon its so heavy duty and built to last!As mentioned before but not so commonly... make the plug and get some Xanthan Gum totally worth it. It also can be used in other culinary projects when thickening needs to be had. If you have already invested in a machine like this then go to the top. No sense getting a super great machine to produce mediocre product.Will write more later. 15 hours and counting...

I've now had this machine for three months, and have used it about 25 times. This machine has exceeded my expectations each and every time. For a couple of decades, I used a low tech Donvier machine to make ice cream. The Donvier was the first widely-distributed machine that used the bucket that had to be kept in the freezer. It served me well, churning out hundreds of ice creams and sorbets over the years.But about six months ago, we adopted a low carb regimen. After a coupl of months I was hankering for ice cream. Both cream and eggs work very well on low carb, and I had done a lot of experimentation with natural sugar replacements, so I felt confident that I could come up with a viable recipe for a reasonably desirable alternative to the high carb stuff that's so ruinous to a healthy diet.However, the idea of intermittent churning on which the Donvier is based just didn't work with sugar free ice cream. Sugar is a highly structural component, especially in ice cream. Once you take it out, that changes every property of how ice cream is made. If you don't keep the sugar free mixture moving constantly, you'll end up with creamy soup with a few "icebergs" floating in it. And that's assuming you don't break your dasher trying to scrape the hard-frozen mixture off the sides. So I had two choices. I could have continued to buy one of the lower cost Cuisinart machines that churned electrically, but still required keeping a bucket in the freezer, or I could spend (much) more and buy a machine with its own compressor that eliminated the need for a freezer bucket, and which churned continuously.When I discovered that the second type allows multiple batches to be made in rapid succession, I was sold. With a freezer bucket, you can't do more than a batch each 24 hours, as the bucket has to be refrozen after each batch. My research led me to the Cuisinart ICE-100. Since my husband loves his ice cream, he agreed to let me spring for it.When it arrived, I quickly unpacked it, and discovered you must let it stay in place for 24 hours before its first use. The hubs, who is a professional engineer, told me this is true of all compressors. The compressor fluids circulate around during the shipping process, particularly if the box gets positioned with the top of the machine in any configuration than up. And for a compressor to work properly, the fluids have to return to the bottom, with the aid of gravity, meaning right side up. So I sat on my hands for 24 hours. So... hard...But it was well worth the wait. My first low carb ice cream was a classic vanilla. The texture when the machine had finished was like a Dairy Queen softserve! The taste, however, was much better than that. Think Haagen Dazs. Since then, I have added chocolate, strawberry, black raspberry, blueberry to the repertoire. All of them have been spectacular. And I'm happy to report that even with eating a lot of ice cream (the hubs puts away 2 bowls at a sitting) at we have still continued to lose weight! Diets don't get much better than this.The machine itself is incredibly easy to use. You put your well chilled mixture into the lightweight bucket, affix the lid so that it's locked in place, then plug in. You press the power button, set the timer (I find it easiest just to go with the 60 minute default) and press start. That's it! I usually check after 30 minutes, and usually, it's done by then. You can either opt to let it continue churning until either it becomes too stiff to continue, at which point it stops churning, or just press the stop button. The compressor will continue to chill without churning, for the remainder of the 60 minutes, at which point it will turn off.When it has reached a solid consistency, you can serve it. Or you can scrape it off the dasher and bucket into a container, cover it and set it in the freezer. If softserve isn't your thing, I'd suggest allowing it to "ripen" in the freezer for an hour before serving, in order for it to firm up. Wash your bucket and dasher, and you can then make another batch.The machine does make noise when it churns. We don't find the sound level to be objectionable, even though we have placed it on a counter between the kitchen and family room, where the TV is located. We can hear the TV just fine without adjusting the sound when we're in the family room, with the machine just 4-5' behind us.Another thing to be aware of is that if you opt to leave the mixture in the machine for the full 60 minutes, the bucket may well be frozen in place, making it impossible to remove it for scraping your ice cream out. I haven't found that to be a big problem, however. I just remove the dasher (which holds the majority of the ice cream) and scrape it, then use a silicone scraper to remove any ice cream that clings to the sides/bottom of the bucket. About 10 minutes after the machine is switched off, if the bucket had become too frozen to remove right away, it is then easily removed for cleaning. And speaking of cleaning, it's a simple matter. The bucket has only a small center spindle to hold the dasher, so some soapy water and a sponge makes fast work of it. And be sure to keep an old, sanitized toothbrush by your sink, which allows you to thoroughly clean the dasher in about 30 seconds flat. The plastic top is simple to clean, as well. The outside of the machine of burnished stainless is easily kept pristine with just a bit of Windex on a paper towel.Once you complete making your ice cream, unplug the machine, or a blue light on top will continue flashing until you do.All in all, this machine is a wonder of modern engineering. A quality machine, well made and simple to use. It's basically a mini version of what previously had been available only commercially to make smooth, velvety ice cream. The ICE-100 brings this capability into the home, with no salt, no ice, and perhaps best of all, no mess.