Anyone use ice cream makers?

Hi.
While we were up in Canada our neice took us to a Gelato ice cream type parlor. We loved how creamy and soft this ice cream was and have been looking into possibly buying an ice cream maker for ourselves.

I was wondering if any of you who are lactose intolerant like myself might own one and if you might have a favorite brand. If so, is it possible to make some lactose free type ice cream in it? We're looking for something that is fairly easy to use and not terribly expensive.

Thanks in advance Lisa

Sorry I've never bought one but I have used one in the past. Takes a lot of work/time to get it really creamy like gelato. 'm sure you can do it with Lactaid or something instead of regular milk.

My folks owned one of those old crank ones when I was a kid. You're right Crabby, it took a lot of time and energy. Tempted to try one of these new things that do it itself. But, we'll see. Got to do a bit of research before putting money into it...

No problem enny We're still not sure whether we're interested in putting money into one or not yet either...

I have a 15-year-old Donvier ice cream maker (an older version of this). It's manual but takes only about 20 minutes of intermittent cranking -- not like the really old-fashioned ones.

You have to keep the inner cylinder in the freezer for about a day before you make the ice cream, or leave it in there all the time (for convenience).

I find that the ice cream tends to have less air and melt more quickly than commercial ice cream, but it's great.

Some flavours I have made at home: creamsicle (use frozen concentrated orange juice and it won't curdle anything), carob whiskey swirl, macadamia mint -- you can go wild!

Coconut milk based flavours are good for flares. . .

Pretty sure you can get decent priced ones on eBay.

We have a Cuisinart where you freeze the bowl so you don't needs salt and ice. It works nice. We have had it for about 10 years.

We have a small Kenwood ice cream maker, it's one of the cheaper ones on the market (at least in the UK) and seems to do a good job. I can't have milk so I haven't tried any of the ice cream from it yet but my other half loves it. I'm planning to try a soya ice cream recipe soon. I can't see a reason that would prevent you making a lactose-free ice cream, whether it's with lactose-free cows milk or one of the alternatives like soya milk.

We keep looking for a used one at goodwill (a big store that sells things you don't want anymore) but haven't had any luck yet. Will keep looking though, sometimes some good stuff comes in after Christmas. All the info you've put in sound very yummy and will keep a watch on maybe getting one of my own! Thanks for all your input everybody

I'm not sure if you have Aldi stores where you are located? I' m in Australia & our Aldi stores have both ice cream makers & juicers on offer this week - both for around $40 Australian.

Thanks for the offer! I'm afraid we don't carry Aldi stores here in the States that I know of. Sounds pretty good though

Cross-stitch gal said:

Thanks for the offer! I'm afraid we don't carry Aldi stores here in the States that I know of. Sounds pretty good though

Click to expand...

They just haven't made it to the West Coast yet!!! We have quite a few Aldis here in NY now...

Anyhow....we have a Cuisinart ice cream maker, and actually used it just a couple nights ago.:dance:..VERY easy to use, just mix together your ingredients and pour in...we keep the container in the freezer when not in use so it is ready 'whenever'.....we also have a recipie booklet that came with it.....

Hmm...can you tell me a little more about these Aldi stores? Thanks for correcting me

Glad to hear that these ice cream makers are so easy to use!

Aldo's is a German discount grocery store, and actually the same company as Trader Joe's.

One of the commercial soft serve vendors is lactose free and doesn't taste all that far off from regular ice cream. They have it at a few large government cafeterias:

http://www.precisionfoodsstore.com/frostline-vanilla-soft-serve-mix.html

I've only had the vanilla, and with a few sprinkles and some caramel sauce in a cone it is pretty indistinguishable from ice cream. You can add your own flavors on top of the vanilla also.