Ice Cream Maker Help

I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker that I attempted to use for the first time last weekend. I followed their simple vanilla ice cream recipe (doesn't use eggs) and ended up with cold soup for lack of a better term. All my ingredients came straight from the fridge (except the sugar and vanilla extract), and the bowl came straight from our deep freeze.

So what could have gone wrong?

Also, is it a problem that I froze the bowl for only 6 hours (minimum length of time according to instructions)? I figured it was fine since I didn't hear any liquid moving when I shook the bowl. But, by the time I finished mixing the ice cream I could hear the liquid swishing again.

Re: Ice Cream Maker Help

i have looked into getting an ice cream maker after getting a tiny one for DS. All reviews I read said that the chamber should be left in the freezer for 24 hours. On top of that these machines really dont make "hard" ice cream. It is "soft serve". If you want hard ice cream you need to freeze it again for 4-6 hours. Hence, I decided against an ice cream maker. 1st I dont have room to store the canister in my freezer indefinitely and 2nd I think it is absurd to have to wait so long for ice cream. So I think neither you or your machine did anything it shouldn't have done.

Re: Ice Cream Maker Help

yes we always freeze our drum for a few days before we use it. I think it melted to fast for the ice cream to turn.

You could probably put the mixture in the freezer for a few hours and see what happens.

Re: Ice Cream Maker Help

I never freeze out bowl for less than 36 hours. Otherwise I feel like it doesn't freeze the ice cream enough.

Re: Ice Cream Maker Help

I leave my bowl in the freeze all the time so I can make ice cream whenever.

When you prepped the ice cream before putting it in the maker was it a thick consistency or was it very thin? Usually the base comes out fairly thick and syrupy. I let it run in the maker for as long as I feel is necessary I dont really follow the marked times especially since I use light cream instead of heavy cream, mine always takes slightly longer

Re: Ice Cream Maker Help

Thanks for the tips! The base was a little thick, but definitely became thinner by the end. I've had the bowl in the freezer for 4 days now. I'm going to give it a try again this coming weekend. If it doesn't work, I'm going to return it or exchange it.