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Customer Reviews: Average Rating:  Rating :  - KitchenAid Ice Cream Attachment v. Special Purpose Ice Cream Maker
I own both the KitchenAid ice cream attachment and the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, two devices that work on the same principle of using a liquid filled freezer bowl and a machine-operated paddle to make homemade ice cream. I decided to compare the two using the same recipe for French vanilla ice cream (from the KitchenAid cookbook) to see which performed better.
The KitchenAid: The bowl has a greater capacity (about 5 cups of mix) than the Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic 1-1/2-Quart Ice-Cream Maker, White. Although it also takes up more room in the freezer, I liked this aspect. After all, if I'm going to make homemade ice cream, I want enough to make the effort worthwhile. The KitchenAid attachment added more air, which created a slightly grainier, more commercial texture but faster flavor delivery. Perhaps because it froze more mix, the KitchenAid was also slower to finish, taking eight minutes longer than the Cuisinart. Removing the frozen cream was easy except from the complex shape of the dasher. Although both machines were noisy, the KitchenAid was by far the quietest. Because you have to pour the mix into the bowl while the paddle is running and because the thick walls of the freezer bowl make it difficult to access, I recommend resting the pouring shield on the edge of the bowl -- it doesn't fit completely, but it's good enough to minimize spillage. Also, if you expect to add nuts, chips, cookies, or other harder items near the end of the cycle, decrease the mix by the same amount. Five cups of batter plus a cup of nuts will overflow the bowl.
The Cuisinart: The ice cream was definitely denser and silkier, although in more limited quantity. The machine takes about 3 cups of mix, and, unlike the KitchenAid, some of it was wasted when it froze solid to the walls of the bowl. The KitchenAid, on the other hand, had little or no waste.
My husband preferred the ice cream from the KitchenAid attachment; he claimed that it tasted much better. I preferred the denser texture from the Cuisinart, although the ice cream was much more difficult to scoop after a day or so of ripening in the freezer. Both tasted much better than anything I can buy in the supermarket.
Despite my preference for the Cuisinart texture, I'm giving this attachment five stars because it still yields great tasting ice cream with minimal work. You do have to plan ahead, however: the bowl must be frozen for at least 15 hours, and the mix must be chilled a full day in advance. Since many ice cream recipes call for a cooked custard (with egg yolks), this means cooking a day or more before you want to make it. If you have the room in your freezer, you might want to store the bowl there. I recommend wrapping it in a plastic bag to keep ice crystals and freezer-taste out.
The decision to choose between this attachment and a special purpose machine depends in part on how many people you want to feed and whether you have the freezer space for a bowl that measures 7 " high x 12" wide x 9" deep (it's not symmetrical because of the outside pieces that allow attachment to the lift mixer). The Cuisinart bowl is only 5.5" tall, with a 7" diameter. Another point to consider is longevity. I expect a KitchenAid mixer motor to far outlive anything on a special purpose machine.
This makes a great gift for people who already own a KitchenAid since most of us are also attachment junkies. I highly recommend this ice cream bowl, although I strongly suggest some comparison shopping to make sure this is right for you.
-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann + See Full Customer Review |  |
