Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

NEGATIVES REVIEWS & MY EXPERIENCE Before I purchased this IC maker, I read a lot of reviews here and all over the internet, and several negatives kept coming up, so I was nervous about the purchase. Since I bought it, I’ve made about 20-ish batches, so here’s my take of the negatives I’ve read. 1. “The ingredients are too expensive, so it costs more than store bought.” Yup. Vanilla and whipping cream costs money. In fact, because I was blasting through vanilla so fast (4oz for $12 at Walmart), I have since purchased real vanilla beans and am currently soaking them in a jar for future use. Less $ and better flavor. But YES, homemade IC cost money. It’s not a way to save money; it’s for enjoying MUCH better flavored ice cream. For me, homemade IC is more like a hobby - but, SO worth it! It’s SO good that I am absolutely addicted and will never go back! Homemade IC is the chateaubriand of dessert, and store bought is ramen noodles. 2. “Scrapping the stuff out of the blades is a hassle. “ Yeah, right, it does take about 30 seconds with a small spatula. If that’s too much for you, then you are a store-bought person. Nothing wrong with that, but if a few seconds is too much for you, I would go with Häagen-Dazs, a higher end ramen noodles. BTW, my favorite way to clean the last remaining morsels of IC on the blades is to lick it clean! I keep telling my wife that the calories don’t count this way. :-) 3. “It comes out too soft, and you have to wait HOURS to eat it.” Again, a trip to Walmart can solve your problem. I actually enjoy it soft, right after it’s made. But I don’t mind waiting for it to harden. Besides, I always have some already hard in the freezer before I make another batch. Too much planning? Again. Hobby, not convenience. 4. “The canister gets stuck in the machine & it’s hard to scrape the thin layer of finished IC off the inside of the canister.” If there is any water, even moisture on the canister when you drop in, it will freeze the canister to the sides. So make sure EVERYTHING is completely dry before you begin. That’s all. If it does get stuck, just wait 30 secs and it will soften up so you can twist it out. Easy. And if that layer of IC left on the side of the canister is too hard for you to scrape out, again, in 30 secs it will soften up and slide right off. I get the IC off the blades first, and by then it’s soft and the canister is un-stuck (if you didn’t start it out dry.) 5. “No recipes come with the machine.” Actually it comes with a basic recipe for vanilla that’s great. That’s the foundation of most other flavors. And besides, the fun for me is trying other peoples different recipes by Googling them. (hobby) So… to finish, I was afraid this might be one of those devices that you use once, and then it sits on the counter, un-used. Well, not for us! This ice cream maker has given me creative fun and the best ice cream I’ve ever had! And it costs a fraction of the price of the same quality at Williams-Sonoma. The only negative for me is that I have to eat 1 banana for breakfast and lunch not to gain weight. But it’s worth it!! :-) Enjoy!