Do You Need a Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine? Yes.
Allow us to kick things off by quoting ourselves from a few years ago:
“There are multiple ways to make ice cream. Some require an ice cream machine, some donât. And letâs face it. Who owns an ice cream machine? If you have one, fuck you.”
Turns out, we now have an ice cream machine. (Fuck us, right?)
We are now the villain of our own story.
Itâs great that we have one now, because North America is currently experiencing another heatwave. What better way to beat the heat (and escape from the collapse of society) than by making yourself a nice bowl of homemade ice cream?
Join us as we make ice cream and eat it until our stomachs hurt. This is our honest review of the Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine.
Obligatory Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links that help us earn a small commission from your purchase (at no extra cost to you). Each purchase supports the blog so we can continue to make content! If you use these links, we really appreciate it!
The Ice Cream Machine
Pretty please watch Portage Carsâ TikTok videos and then come back and read this blurb. (For real, we think itâs hilarious. Validate our opinions.)
With the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker ICE-21, your milkshake ice cream will bring all of the boys to the yard. This fully automatic ice cream can have ice cream ready faster than your boyfriend can make youâŚwell, you know. Once you pour your ingredients into the spout, the double-insulated freezer bowl and paddle will make ice cream while you mentally prepare yourself to watch This is Us. The results are consistently smooth, unlike that awkward guy who hit on you at the bar last weekend.
Your New Best Friend: The Base Ice Cream Recipe
Cuisinart has a simple and delicious vanilla ice cream recipe that you can make â itâs the perfect base for any ice cream flavor you can dream of.
Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
ž cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Whisk milk, sugar, and salt together until dissolved. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (Could you just put everything in a bowl and whisk it without making it two separate steps? Probably.)
Take the freezer bowl out of the freezer, put the mixing paddle in, then the clear cover goes on top. Turn on the ice cream machine and confirm that your paddle is spinning nicely. Pour your ice cream mixture into the moving machine â itâll take 15-20 minutes to thicken!
Transfer to a container and place it in the freezer for about 2 hours. (We recommend using a rubber spatula so you donât scrape the coating on the inside of the freezer bowl.) You can sample some ice cream before you pop it in the freezer, itâll just be soft.
Ice Cream We Made
Yâknow, for science. (AKA for this blog post and to share with friends.)
Oreo Ice Cream Recipe
This one is super simple. All you have to do is crumble up some Oreos (or any other legally distinct chocolate cookie sandwich with vanilla cream frosting filling), and then toss them into the basic vanilla ice cream base. Job done.
Cherry Ice Cream Recipe
We made this cherry ice cream recipe from Kate the Baker. Unfortunately we didnât have sour cherries, so we used regular cherries. Of course this is going to change how the recipe tastes (more sweet, less sour), but it was still good! A++. One day we will get our hands on some sour cherries and make this again
đ Mediocre Tip: You can use a straw to pit cherries, no fancy cherry pitting tool needed! It just might look like you murdered someone thoughâŚ
Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Recipe
Are you old? Does your tummy hurt when you consume dairy products? Then we have the solution for you: dairy free ice cream. A simple way of creating dairy free ice cream is to swap the milk and heavy cream for 2 cans of coconut milk and dial back the vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon in the base recipe.
We decided to add some raw chocolate chip cookie dough chunks because raw cookie dough is amazing. You can either do what we did and buy the premade stuff from the store, or you can make your own!
đŞ Mediocre Tip: If you want to add raw cookie dough, please make sure that the cookie dough is safe to eat raw. If you get salmonella thatâs on you.
Tips for Ice Cream Success
Get the most out of your machine with these tips. (And donât mess up like we did.)
Make sure your freezer bowl is completely frozen. This takes 24-48 hours!
Also: donât remove the bowl from the freezer until your ice cream base is ready to be churned!
Donât skip pre-chilling your base. If you do, your ice cream may not freeze properly.
Donât add your ice cream mixture to the machine if itâs not turned on. It will instantly freeze on the edges, and your paddle wonât be able to spin very well when you turn it on. (Ask us how we knowâŚ)
Follow the recipe. Donât try to add more cherries, Oreos, or cookie dough than the recipe calls for. Your machine will overflow.
“Your ice cream machine is not the TARDIS. It is NOT bigger on the inside.”
Chop your mix-ins finely. This is mostly for your teeth (so you donât chip a tooth on a big frozen piece of chocolate), but also so the ingredients can incorporate evenly, so every bite is delicious!
Add your mix-ins near the end of the churning time. It doesnât take long for them to get mixed in!
Is The Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine Worth It?
The big question: is it worth it? Thatâll depend heavily on how much ice cream you eat. If youâre like Trevor and donât eat a lot of ice cream because of the whole lactose thing, then itâs probably not worth it. If youâre like Brittany and have a stomach of steel and live for ice cream, then yes. Itâs likely worth it to buy one especially with the absurd increase in the cost of food.
P.S. â you can sometimes find these at thrift stores. Happy hunting! (#AllMyHomiesHateMegaCorporations)
Buying an Ice Cream Machine? In This Economy?
Hypothesis: over time, itâs cheaper to make ice cream than to buy it.
Donât believe us? Want the cold hard math? Here you go:
(All prices below are in Canadian Dollars.)
Assumptions
A back of the napkin calculation says that one batch of the Cuisinart recipe should yield approximately 5 cups of ice cream. We will use the Ben & Jerryâs Ice Cream Density Standard (which is a thing we just made up by looking at the nutritional label on a pint of Ben & Jerryâs ice cream) that says 1 cup of ice cream = 188mL. So, 5 cups of ice cream is 940mL.
There is 473mL in a Ben & Jerryâs pint, so one Cuisinart Standard Recipe yield is equivalent to 1.99 Ben & Jerryâs pints (practically double!)
Ben & Jerryâs is $6.49 for 437mL, so it would cost us $12.92 to purchase an equivalent volume of Ben & Jerryâs ice cream.
Letâs assume we can get an ice cream maker at the lowest price we could find which was $76.49 (price last seen on March 25, 2023). Cuisinart offers a 3 year warranty for the ice cream makers, so letâs further assume it has a life span of 3 years. (In reality it probably has a longer lifespan.)
Ingredient Pricing
Heavy cream costs $6.19 for 1L, and we need 500mL, making the per batch cost $3.10.
Whole Milk is $5.99 for 4L , and we need 250mL, making the per batch cost $0.37.
We are going to estimate that the per batch cost of the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to be about $0.50.
So the base ice cream recipe (no mix-in ingredients) comes to a total of $3.97 per batch.
This is where we are going to diverge into two different calculations to figure out how much the ice cream machine costs to use per batch of ice cream made.
Theoretical Minimum
There are approximately 93 days of summer, and it takes a minimum of 24 hours to freeze the bowl completely. So, you can expect to make a batch of ice cream every other day. Thus there are 46 potential days of summer to make ice cream. Over three years that gives us 138 potential summer ice cream opportunities. If you stick to this strict schedule, the machine cost is $0.55 (= $76.49/138) every time you make ice cream.
You following us? We were going to include an amortization graph as well, but decided against it.
More Realistic
You are lazy and only make ice cream once a month (even in the winter). Over the three year life span of the ice cream maker, that gives you 36 ice cream making opportunities. Sticking to this schedule, the machine cost is $2.12 (= $76.49/36) every time you make ice cream.
Final Numbers
If you use the theoretical minimum, then as long as your per batch cost of mix-ins is less than $8.40 (= $12.92 - $0.55 - $3.97), then the ice cream maker is worth it to buy compared to an equivalent amount of Ben & Jerryâs.
If you use the more realistic scenario, then as long as your per batch cost of mix-ins is less than $6.83 (= $12.92 - $2.12 - $3.97), then the ice cream maker is worth it to buy compared to an equivalent amount of Ben & Jerryâs.
Conclusion: The math says yes. Itâs worth it!