I'd forgotten we even owned an ice-cream maker (that's how long it hasn't been used for!!), when my mum today suggested I make an ice-cream to go with the deserts for tomorrow afternoon's barbecue...

Ok, Ok, I admit, I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to kitchen gadgets, people always seem to buy things, use them once or twice, then the novelty wears off and they just clog up the cupboards for years and years until there's a massive clean out, and then they get chucked away...that's never really appealed to me...mind you I may well change my mind when I get my own kitchen to fill up with things!!

So, I had a trawl through the various recipe books we've got and then the internet to see what I could find, and I have to say I'm amazed at how easy and quick it was! Firstly, I'll tell you a bit about the process, and then I'll get on to the machine itself.

~*THE RECIPE*~

I decided to go for Rocky Road ice-cream today, and chose a recipe off the 'net. (I've put the link below just in case any body wants to have a go!)

Essentially it consists of;
Condensed Milk
Cocoa
Double Cream
Single Cream
Vanilla Essence
Chopped Pecans
Marshmallows
(and we added some white chocolate chips too!)

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4772/rocky-road-ic e-cream.aspx

I chose it because it didn't have loads of ingredients or complicated method, and because Rocky Road is my mum's favourite!
It didn't require very much preparation at all, and was then to be left in the fridge until cool, which gave me time to set up the machine.

~*SETTING UP THE MACHINE*~

Luckily, Mum had stored the machine up the right way in the cupboard, because otherwise you have to leave it for several hours (I think it's about 12!) to allow the refrigeration unit to settle again.
The manual provides instructions with option for using a removable bowl, or the internal bowl, and comes with paddles for both. I chose to use the removable bowl, simply because I thought it would be easier to wash up at the end! If you choose this option you have to add a small amount of water and alcohol (I used vodka!) to the internal bowl, I presume so that the removable bowl doesn't get stuck inside the machine when it cools.

After this you simply place the internal bowl into the unit, slide over the paddle, and fix with the nut so it doesn't come loose, and you're all set up!
Then you press the "cool" button (easily identifiable by the snowflake) and leave the unit for 5 minutes to cool down...

~*AFTER 5 MINUTES COOLING TIME*~

Here I was pleasantly surprised, all I had to do was remove my bowl of mixture from the fridge, poor it in to the machine, put the lid on, turn the timer all the way round (to a III marking), press the paddle button and wait!

Because the recipe I was using required the addition of nuts, marshmallows, and chocolates half way through the churning and freezing process, and I wasn't sure how much would actually the ice-cream maker, I made the ice-cream in two batches, putting half of the mixture in, and then half way (15 minutes) through added half of the additional ingredients. I'm pleased I did this because when I added the extra bits in, it created a bit of extra bulk and I don't think it would have fitted in in one!

For an idea of how much it will produce at a time, the recipe made approximately 1 and a half quarts of liquid, (I think that's about 1.5 litres) and I'm not sure how this would differ with a smooth ice cream with no additional "chunky bits", but I imagine it'd hold a bit more, probably about a litre or a quart.

~*WHILST IT'S FREEZING*~

There's a bit of noise from the machine, a whirring noise as the blade moves round and churns the ice-cream, also, the timer on the machine makes a little ticking noise which was actually quite cute! But it wasn't as noisy as say a blender, and after a few minutes we felt it was merely background noise, and it didn't really bother us at all.

~*WHEN THE PADDLE STOPPED*~

The paddle stopped before the buzzer went off, which I'm reassured by the manual, means the ice-cream is of a "finished" consistency already so the blade stops. It also says if it looks too runny, you can put the timer on for a few more minutes. I guess this is all down to the recipe and type of ice-cream you're making.

~*FROM THE MACHINE TO THE FREEZER*~

All that remained was to use the spoon provided to remove the ice-cream from the machine and into a freezable container, and find a space for it in the freezer!

~*CLEANING UP*~

Cleaning the machine was easy and simple. Surprisingly so in fact! The paddle and bowl came out of the machine easily, and weren't too fiddly to wash up or dry, and a quick wipe around the internal bowl with a dish cloth and then dried with a tea towel was all it needed to be shiny and clean again!

~*THE RESULTS*~

Well, we have success!! I'm impressed, even if I do say so myself!! The ice-cream turned out really well, with lots of people enjoying it, and commenting on how much they liked it, and so many people came back for seconds that it's all gone!! Think I'm going to try out a different flavour some time this week, maybe a fruity one!!
This machine certainly won't be sat on the shelf looking sorry for itself this summer!!

~*MY CONCLUSION*~

I think this machine is a great product, which I'm hoping will help produce great ice-cream! (What I tasted out of the bowl tonight was certainly yummy!)

It's simple; so much so that after one use, I don't think there'll be much referring to the manual in future! There are only two buttons and the timer, so it's all fairly straight-forward!

It's quick; thirty minutes total working time for the machine, plus a little for the preparation of the ice-cream mixture.

Added to this was the benefit that it was so easy to clean afterwards.

The only real minus is that it's quite big which might put some people off, but it's not really an issue as we have a large space on the sideboard where it can sit quite happily. I'm not sure about newer models/makes, but considering it's ten years old it could be worse!

Also, it has the refrigeration unit built in, I've seen some models where you have to put the whole unit in the freezer and things, whereas this is simply in the machine, left and removed again.

I enjoyed it so much, that I'm planning my next "batch" of flavours, and I'm hoping to make a different flavour every week or so throughout the summer, as our family love ice-cream, but it will be nice to have the same old flavours and to be able to experiment with customising it however we like!