Review on 🍨 Cuisinart ICE-100 Silver 1-1/2-Quart Compressor Ice Cream and Gelato Maker by Robert Weeks

I have had this device for three months now and have used it about 25 times. This car has exceeded my expectations every time. I've used a basic Donvier ice cream maker for decades. The Donvier was the first widespread machine to use a bucket that had to be kept in the freezer. This has served me well, I've made hundreds of ice creams and sorbets over the years. But about six months ago we switched to a low carb diet. After a few months I started craving ice cream. Both cream and eggs work very well low carb and I've experimented a lot with natural sugar substitutes so I felt confident that I could find a viable recipe for a reasonably desirable alternative to the so harmful high carb foods. to a healthy diet. However, the intermittent whipping idea that Donvier is based on just didn't work with sugar-free ice cream. Sugar is an important structural component, especially in ice cream. Once you get it, all ice cream making properties will be changed. If you don't keep the sugar-free mix agitated, you'll end up with a creamy soup with a few "icebergs" floating in it. And that's assuming you don't crack your device and try to scrape the frozen mixture off the sides. So I had two options. I could have continued to buy one of the cheaper Cuisinart machines that beat electric but still had to keep the bucket in the freezer, or I could spend (much) more and buy a machine with its own compressor, eliminating the need for a freezer. Bucket, and who was constantly being whipped. When I discovered that the second type allowed multiple batches in quick succession, I was convinced. You cannot make more than one batch every 24 hours with a freezer bucket, as the bucket must be refrozen after each batch. My research led me to the Cuisinart ICE-100. As my husband loves ice cream he agreed to give it to me. When it arrived I quickly unpacked it and found that it had to sit for 24 hours before using it for the first time. Habs, a professional engineer, told me that this applies to all compressors. Compressor fluids circulate during the transportation process, especially when the box is installed with the top of the machine in any position and not facing up. And for the compressor to work properly, the liquids must return down under the influence of gravity, i.e. right side up. So I sat idly by for 24 hours. So hard. But the wait was worth it. My first low carb ice cream was classic vanilla. The texture when the machine finished was like a soft helping of Dairy Queen! But the taste was much better. Remember Haagen Daz. Since then I've added chocolate, strawberries, blueberries, blueberries to my repertoire. All were impressive. And I'm happy to report that despite lots of ice cream (the hubs take away 2 bowls per session) we still continued to lose weight! Diets don't get much better than this. The machine itself is incredibly easy to use. You place the well-chilled mixture in a lightweight bucket, insert the lid to snap it into place, and then plug it in. Beginning. That's all! I usually check in in 30 minutes and by then it's usually done. You can either let it keep beating until it either becomes too hard to continue and then stop beating, or just hit the stop button. The compressor will continue to cool without beating for the remaining 60 minutes, after which it will turn off. When it has reached a firm consistency, you can serve it. Or you can scrape it off the dash and bucket into a container, cover and put in the freezer. If softserve isn't your thing, I would suggest letting it "mature" in the freezer for an hour before serving so it sets. Wash out the bucket and coffee maker and you're ready to craft another batch. The machine is very noisy when hitting. We don't find the volume uncomfortable, even though we placed it on the counter between the kitchen and the living room where the TV is. We can hear the TV perfectly with no volume control when we are in the common room and the car is only 4-5 feet behind us. Another thing to note is that if you choose to leave the mix in the machine for the full 60 minutes, the bucket may very well freeze in place, making it impossible to seal remove to clean the ice. However, I didn't find that a big problem. I simply remove the spatula (which holds most of the ice) and clean it, then use a silicone scraper to scrape away any ice that is stuck to the sides/bottom of the bucket. If the bucket is too frozen to be removed immediately about 10 minutes after the machine is turned off, it can be easily removed for cleaning. And speaking of purification, it's a simple matter. The bucket only has a small center pole to hold the dashboard onto it, so a little soapy water and a sponge will do the trick. And make sure you keep an old, sanitized toothbrush near the sink, which can give you a deep clean of your dash in about 30 seconds. The plastic plate is also easy to clean. The machine's polished stainless steel body is easily kept in pristine condition by simply dabbing a little Windex onto a paper towel. When you are finished making ice cream, unplug the machine, otherwise the blue light at the top will keep flashing until you are done. In general, this machine is a marvel of modern engineering. High quality machine, well made and easy to use. It's essentially a mini version of what used to be commercially available for making smooth, velvety ice cream. The ICE-100 brings that capability into your home, with no salt, no ice, and perhaps best of all, no dirt.