Need some advice on Ice Cream Maker

[Mamasue]

Need your help! The Chefs Catalog is having a special right now on Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt & Ice Cream Maker for $59.99. If you buy the Ice Cream Maker you also get an extra freezer bowl free. My question is does anyone have this appliance and what are your thoughts on it. Thanks

[Susan]

Hi Mamasue~
I got the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt & Ice Cream Maker and extra freezer bowl for my husband for Christmas from The Chef's Catalog. He just loves it and the ice cream he's made has been just wonderful! He says it is very easy to use and he would recommend it to anyone.

~~Susan~~

[Mamasue]

Thanks Susan! I appreciate the feedback and going to order it this week or next....mortgage and car payment due this week....YOW!!

[Kim]

I have the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, as well, and I *love* it. It's not only great for ice cream and yogurt, but my kids love the frozen lemonade I've made with it as well.

[Mamasue]

Yipee! The Ice Cream maker is on order and should be receiving it soon. My sister ordered one for me and herself.

Kim...did you just make the basic lemonade and then freeze? Sounds refreshing!

[tammy/MN]

w/ all these posts about homemade icecream, i'm thinking about getting a maker myself. just curious, how big are the units? just wondering if it takes up alot of cupboard space? & freezer space as well?

the frozen lemonade sounds great for the kids, like the kool-aid slushes they sell now. how would margaritas come out?

[Mamasue]

Tammy/MN,

I bet the Margaritas would be awesome! Great idea! I would assume that they would be on the slushy side because of the alcohol not freezing completely.

Just looked in my catalog and the description says that it makes up to 1 1/2 quarts of in 20 minutes. It also doesn't look that big....9"D x 14"H. Don't forget if you order through Chefs you will get another freezer bowl free which is a $29.99 purchase savings.

[Kim]

I did make some basic lemonade and freeze it, but since then I've seen some wonderful recipes for fruit lemonade (watermelon, mango, etc.) that I'm dying to try! Also, the recipe book that comes with it does have a recipe for Kool-Aid slushes, too, though I haven't given them a try yet, I'm sure they're just as good.

As for the margaritas and frozen alcoholic drinks, I think you add the alcohol at the last few minutes of freezing because otherwise it takes too long to get slushy and the motor will only run for a limited period of time without overheating.

As for the space issue, it does take up a bit of freezer space, particularly if you have two bowls. As for counter/cupboard space, no more than a food processor or a blender, really. They aren't as big as the old-fashioned crank-style ice cream makers.

Kim

[Mamasue]

Space in the freezer will be no problem for me because I have a standing freezer in our basement.

Kim..would you share the watermelon and mango fruit lemonade with us or does the recipes come with the ice cream maker. Thanks.

[Kim]

Watermelon Lemonade

6 cups watermelon, cubed and seeded
1/4 cup raspberries
1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup lemon juice

Preparation: Place watermelon, raspberries and water in container of electric blender; cover and blend until smooth. Strain through fine mesh strainer into pitcher. Stir in sugar and lemon juice until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Yield: 4 servings.

SPARKLING MANGO LEMONADE

3 ripe mangoes (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup superfine sugar plus additional to taste
seltzer water or club soda

Garnish: lime wedges

Peel mangoes and cut flesh from pits. In a blender purée mango flesh with lime juice, water, and 1 cup sugar until smooth.

Force purée through a sieve into a pitcher or bowl, pressing on any solids. Chill purée, covered, until cold and stir in additional sugar. (Purée will be slightly thick. Limeade purée keeps, covered and chilled, 2 days.)

Fill tall glasses with ice and add enough limeade purée to fill each glass by three quarters. Top off drinks with seltzer water or club soda, stirring well, and garnish with lime wedges.

Makes about 5 1/2 cups limeade purée.

Gourmet
July 1996

Two recipes for the fruit lemonades, just pour chilled drinks into freezer and freeze until slushy. I haven't tried either of these yet, so if anyone gets a chance, please let me know how they are!

Kim

[Mamasue]

Kim,

Thanks for taking the time to post. These look refreshing....now I have to get the blender out and clean off the cobwebs. Don't use it at all!

[Pat]

My husband picked the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker up for me last night at Linen 'n Things. They have it for $59.99 with the extra bowl offer. HOWEVER, they are offering 20% off on a single item until July 4. Since I did not need anything else there, I thought that was the deal for me. Now I need some great ice cream recipes. I know there were some on the old board, but since I did not have a freezer, I did not copy them into MasterCook. Now I am sorry!

[Shelly]

Dear Pat, I have a great strawberry ice cream recipe. If you would like for me to post it, just say the word. However, I posted a website on the previous bulletin board for ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt recipes (this is where my strawberry one comes from). They have almost any recipe you can think of. The site is www.dsuper.net/~zaz/icecream/frame.html. You can also try SOAR - www.soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/ - this takes you to the home page and you can search by category or keyword. The SOAR site is a great one too. Good luck!

[Pat]

Thanks, Shelly! I'll try the site you mentioned. I hope it is low-fat.

[Pat]

Shirley,

I'm glad to help. I can't stand for anyone to pay more than they have to for anything.

[Mamasue]

Shelly,

I get a forbidden message when I click on the ice cream link. Could you check to see if the address is correct. Thanks a bunch

[Shirley Panek]

Pat -

Thanks for mentioning the 20% off at Linens-n-Things. I was going to order this from Chef's Catalog, but was going to cost over $70 (inc. shipping). As it was I got it for $50.

Thanks!