Gear Heads | Which Homemade Ice Cream Equipment is Right for You?

Frozen veggies - separate these are in the morning packages

I've made ice cream both ways and the machine will always win for me, the texture is better.

Does the blender stuff taste exactly like machine ice cream, or is it a compromise?

Can you use ready made custard?

I'm sorry, but I still prefer my 60 year old hand crank....

Just discovered your videos!! You both are a great team! Keep educating us! I want some ice cream! Love how you ladies explain the tools you use.

Yeah but its the corn syrup that's the killer...

Thank you both for that wonderful demonstration 😁

The freezer based makers, like their first choice, are fine for the very occasional batch, but if you are at all serious about this, the self-chilling units really are worth the extra expense. The cuisinart, which I have and highly recommend, is about $250 at the time of this writing. You can do multiple batches without refreezing the cannister, gives very consistent results and offers fine control over times and temperatures and comes with paddles especially suited for ice creams, gelatos and so on.

In my experience, the Cuisinart canisters break and leak.
What is your recommendation for self refrigerated makers?

So much to comment on here. Get a freezer big enough to store your canister, or two, in. You must assemble the ice cream maker and then pour in the sauce as it’s running. I prefer a plastic storage container. Your are making homemade ice cream and you use strawberry preserves? For my fresh fruit, strawberry or peach, I use a combination of blended with sugar and cooked down with sugar and lemon juice. The blended gets mixed in before churning and the cooked at the end. Remember to strain the sauce after cooking to remove any cooked egg or the bits of white, especially if you are making chocolate. I will try adding the vanilla before churning next time.
I just wrapped up 6 batches of ice cream over, two days. Tuesday night I made a triple batch of vanilla custard and prepared strawberry and peach, blended and cooked portions. Next morning, I ran two batches through my two buckets. While they were churning, I made a double dark chocolate with Swiss processed cocoa and 72% chocolate cooking drops. Thursday morning I churned the next round of fruit ice cream and Thursday night, the two rounds of chocolate. I add a tablespoon of vodka right before churning. This keeps the ice cream from freezing too hard. I skipped this once, and regretted it. The ice cream is being paired with wood fired make your own pizza for family and friends on Friday.

Just FYI I think your freezer looks like most of our freezers. On another note I love ice cream!

I love gear heads! These videos are so helpful and I trust the testing from professionals. Thank you! :)

Thanks for a great video - inspiring me to make ice cream again.
I have a suggestion for those who have a cannister machine - keep the cannister in a freezer bag in the freezer to keep it clean. Particularly if think you might not use it for a while. There is no way you can wash the cannister before you use it once it is already frozen.

Ice cream makers with canisters are frustrating and horrible because they don't provide consistent chilling during the churning. A machine with a condenser (self-refrigerating) is so worth it, especially when you consider that you're going waste $100+ on the Cuisinart that you're going to throw out because it's so maddening. That sweetened condensed milk ice cream is revolting. It's way too sweet and has a weirdly greasy mouthfeel.

Can you please add a link to that thermometer you used to take the temp of the ice cream mixture on your stovetop?

A big thank you all of the beautiful and talented ladies of ATK...but Please pass a huge Thanx to Morgan from a die hard ATK fan. I did the 'no churn' in vanilla just with extract. Found only one in store brand that beat it, and you can't even taste test it. Chapman's Premium French Vanilla. Canada only. You guys need to do a "Canada's Test Kitchen" every so often. :-). <3

Neat ! I recently bought a KitchenAid stand mixer, a display model on sale, and one motivate for getting it was because of the ice cream canister accessory. Look forward to making ice cream at home with my 4 year old son, and this video was quite helpful. Thanks, ladies.

I love to make homemade ice cream so much so that I want a compressor driven ice cream machine instead of having to find room in my freezer to freeze the container first! :-)

I have my second Cuisinart canister style that I have because I lost pieces to my first one. It is still in the box and summer is nearly over. I want my elements built in thank you if I'm going to spend my money it's going to be on quality homemade ice cream just like Ben & Jerry did! :-)

You better cure that Custard in the refrigerator overnight! I will give on a lot of things but ice cream isn't one of them! In fact I got a freezer burned pint from Ben & Jerry's and there ears were burning by the time I got off the phone!

No Lisa say it ain't so! That looks like semifredo to me! Well okay maybe just the loaf pan but I'm going to fight for my no Frozen container to make ice cream I want one that freezes on its own! Buttermilk ice cream is really really good! :-)

Yes yes yes yes and yes!

I have the Cuisinart in white pink and red so it's time for me to graduate! It's already in my Amazon cart anyway the just plug it in ice cream maker then I can spend more time coming up with new flavors and sharing them! :-)

I think you missed out on one type of ice cream machine. The type that uses ice. We have used that for years. We even have one that uses a hand crank so if we loose power we will still have ice cream

If using sweetened condensed milk, I do not add additional sweetener. If not using sweetened condensed milk, I would use honey or maple syrup - NOT corn syrup or refined sugar.

Great video -making my hungry! Does anyone have thoughts (based on experience) as to stevia can be used in place of sugar here?

Do you have to use corn syrup?

I could not live without my cuisine art ice cream machine. I have perfected my vanilla ice cream to taste just like the old fashioned kind Mom & Dad used to churn using a hand crank . I make it every week. The machine is a rock.

I don’t see where the recipes are I’ve got the same blender you’re using I have yet to try it but I have everything on hand also I bought some blueberry preserves I don’t know how this worksHow I can get my answers thank you Doug seelye

I made Lisa’s recipe yesterday, it turned out really good. I will agree with some comments that the ice cream was really sweet, but I think this is what was required for the perfect texture to be achieved (all the ingredients and ratios). And I used a hand mixer to make it. The ice cream needed more time to freeze, I used an ice cream tub from Tovolo (the oval one) to store it. I swapped strawberry jam for a cherry one and it turned out delicious. This recipe is a keeper for me! Thank you for sharing! Hannah’s recipe is next! 🍨

My favorite flavor as well wow you sold me! ☺️yummy

I made the no churn ice cream style. I absolutely do not like the mouth feel of the sweetened condensed milk. Too sweet and leaves my mouth and tongue feeling coated. I prefer the churn method. I made both and my entire family agrees that the churned ice cream tastes better. I don't use eggs instead I make a slurry with clear gel and milk and use 2T corn syrup to keep it smooth and scoopable.

and you can actually pronounce ALL the ingredients. Wa-hoo! No bioengineered nonsense like store bought ice cream. YES!

I have a kitchenaid icecream mixer bowl. Works for me. But I do have the breville blender I use mainly for smoothies but I’ll have to try this as well. Thanks!! Y’all the best!!

The Third type: Old school style Nostalgia machine for $35 is better than all of these machines and only needs ice and salt no need to freeze the canister for 24-36 hours in advance.

I don’t know why I’m watching this. This is way too much work.

cuisineart was 40$ back 10 years ago just got mine on a black friday sale at 55

You should try the Ninja Creami. Makes the best ice-cream!!

I just love watching you two! Lisa, your buttermilk ice cream in a blender looks so easy and good! And I imagine the ice cream maker Hannah uses would be a great way to add lots of extras. And also Hannah, gotta say your wee one is so cute. Thanks, ladies!

......wow....no..........the blender no-churn method; condensed milk, preserves..... seems to be a diabetic bomb, cutting corners for lazy people. Once you go with the machine, you can never go back..........

Wondering if cooked pudding would work as custard base..and instructions say start machine then add ingredients, so doesnt freeze to sides

Crazy that 2 years ago that ice cream maker was $40 and now its $65

Can you make no churn vegan ice cream?

Hey 👋🏻 got the cusinart ice cream maker , but for some reason I have bought the ICE-21C 😢. The link shows the ICE-21 . I don’t understand the big difference between each . Can any explain please.

Who wants corn syrup in your food????

There are at least 3 kinds that I know of. The kinds that use ice and rock salt may be a little clunky, but they make a darned good ice cream.

My freezer is 10 times worse - the main reason I quit using the canister-type maker. No room!

$40 then, $70 now, holy crap