The Art of Cuisinart Ice Cream

Author's Rating:

Pros: Easy to use.

Cons: Just wish it made a larger amount for a crowd.

The Bottom Line: 
This is one of the easiest ways I have found to make homemade ice cream. No mess and very little work.

Author's Review
I am like most of the people in the US I love ice cream. It doesn’t have to be summer to enjoy these creamy concoctions. Anytime of the year will do and in fact I seem to crave it more in the winter than I do in the summer.

Several months ago I purchased the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 as a gift for someone but it never quite got to them, at least not this one.

I asked my husband to place the freezing bowl of our ice cream maker in the freezer as I wanted to make ice cream over the weekend and he thought I meant the new one I bought. So he place the bowl in the freezer from the new Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20. Now I had to keep it, as I couldn’t give a used gift to someone now could I?

What is so nice about the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 is you don’t have to use ice or salt to make you ice cream.

You just plug in the machine and press the little button on the front of the machine and off it goes. There is not mess from melting ice or salt crystals to have to clean up.

The Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 comes with the motor base which is pretty powerful. It has mixed ice cream for me effortlessly that has sweetened condensed milk as a base. As most of you know that cook, sweetened condensed milk is extremely thick and hard to mix.


The 50 watts of power that is has really makes for ease of mixing.

The base also has an on/off switch that you just click. Nothing could be simpler than that. There are not fancy timers or anything. You know when the ice cream is complete buy the slowing down of the motor. I do not know if it turns itself off or not when the process is complete because I turn it off myself.

I burned up one ice cream maker because it was supposed to shut itself off so now I listen to the motor and look through the lid to see the consistency of the ice cream then shut it down.

The base is made of plastic that is easily wiped down. The mixture doesn’t come in contact with it at all unless you accidentally drip some if it.

There are rubber feet that help in keeping the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 steady so it doesn’t move around on the counter.

In the bottom of the base there is also cord storage so that when you do put the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 away you don’t have a cord strung around all under the cabinet. This also helps in preventing accidents just in case you place something on top of the cord. You don’t pull the machine out and the pan that is sitting on it falls on your foot.

The lid of the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 is made of a clear plastic so that you can see through it to monitor your ice creams progress.

The lid locks onto the base of the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20. Just give it a small twist.

There is an aerator that comes with the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20. This is what you place inside the insulated bowl that you pour the ice cream mixture in.

The aerator doesn’t move but the bowl spins around this. The aerator is what keeps the mixture moving so that the ingredients all freeze at the same time and you don’t have to stop the mixer to stir.

Now for the heart of the machine and that is the insulated mixing bowl.

This is metal and is double insulated. Between the double walls of the bowl there is a gel like substance that freezes when you place it in the freezer.

Before freezing the bowl of the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20, make sure you wash it by hand with a mild soapy water and rinse well.

I have found that placing the bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours works best as Cuisinart recommends that your freezer be set at 0 degrees for it to freeze well in 8 to 12 hours. I know mine isn’t set that low.

The Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 makes 1.5 quarts of the most delicious ice cream you have ever placed in your mouth.

Now that the bowl of the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 is properly frozen, it is time to make the fun.

First you make your ice cream mixture and I recommend placing in the freezer for about 30 minutes until extremely cold.

Now take out the base of the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20. Place the frozen bowl on the base, insert aerator and add ice cream mixture. Place lid on and lock it. Now turn on machine. In about 30 minutes you should have ice cream ready to eat.

If you find that you aren’t going to eat the ice cream immediately, place it in the freezer. This also works if you find the mixture isn’t hard enough for you.

I have tried making those frozen lattes in the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 and it works well for this. I only let it mix for about 15 minutes though. I want to be able to drink it and not eat it with a spoon.

When making ice cream I have experimented with adding ingredients through the hole in the lid. Works wonderfully as you don’t have to shut down and interrupt the freezing process and the aerator mixes the ingredients evenly.

I have used broken chocolate covered pretzels, coarsely chopped nuts, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas and frozen peaches. Just make sure that whatever you decide to add to the mixture that it is frozen before adding.

The Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 recipe/instruction booklet. Easy to read and follow directions. I have never used the recipes as I love to experiment with my own.

When making ice cream the higher the fat content in the milk the creamier the ice cream. The lower fat content will tend to make it icier like. But whatever you choose the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 is up to the task.

You can have really fattening or low fat ice cream treats or you can use the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 for mixing frozen drinks too.

You can purchase the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 from some of your finer department stores such as Dillards or online from cooking.com. I got mine from Dillards for $43.00.

While you are purchasing the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 try getting a second bowl for around $25.00 so that you have one ready all the time.

The Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 comes with a three year limited warrenty. I don't know how it works as I have never had to use the warrenty on any of my Cuisinart products.

Thanks for reading.