Dash My Pint Ice Cream maker

I have the Cuisinart ice cream maker but for some reason I don't use it very much. When I saw these I thought oh I'll get two and if more people are here I can make more and if it's just me and I don't want to pig out I can make less. So far that theory is working out well. I follow the directions exactly, making sure to chill the cup well and to have my ingredients well chilled also. They say that it runs for 20 minutes but I think that you can take the ice cream out in half that time, that's just the time it takes before it warms up too much. One thing that I didn't pay attention to in the instructions, which made me think it was broken for a few minutes there, is that you switch it on and then put the dasher/motor on top of the ice cream cup part. If you try to put it on and then start it, it doesn't start. Also it says to let the ice cream chill before serving. But then I had a really hard time getting it out. This was several hours later. So what I do now is as soon as it's done, use the plastic spoon and scoop the ice cream quickly into an already chilled lidded container and stick it in the freezer. Best if you spoon it in lightly do it doesn't freeze into a solid block. I've so far made frozen lemon ice with fresh thyme and lemon zest and a bit of white wine, and a kind of frozen puree of ripe peach and nectarine. And I did leave chunks of fruit, and it turned out very well. I suggest you look up proportion of light corn syrup to sugar. The ratio matters. I went with about three parts syrup to one part sugar. I just zap sugar and water in the 'wave for a few seconds, add the corn syrup, use what I need and put the rest in the fridge.

Instead of buying a very popular ice cream maker with a big footprint and an even bigger price, I opted to get this Dash freezer. I was hesitant to get this appliance because I eat a vegan diet and I have diabetes which means I have to watch everything I eat. Ever since being diagnosed with diabetes, I eat only healthy homemade food and wasn't sure if eating homemade ice cream would work for me. Also, I already have a larger ice cream maker I no longer use because of my health condition. I love ice cream but only eat a couple of spoonfuls once a year on my birthday. I was pleasantly surprised how much I love this little machine because I can make delicious non-dairy frozen treats without all the calories and fat. Since it arrived earlier this week, I have made 3 kinds of frozen yogurt from my homemade non-dairy yogurt in chocolate, coffee with chocolate chips and mixed berry flavors. Since using up all the yogurt, I make a new non-dairy flavor ice cream almost every day and so far have enjoyed maple walnut, pumpkin pecan and peanut butter which have turned out fantastic (see photo of maple walnut). I get 2 servings out of every batch...one-half to eat now and I freeze the other half in a small container for another day. The Dash Electric Ice Cream Maker is the perfect size for 1-2 people, is great if you are on a special diet or just want to limit special treats. The only negative is that the electric lid does not securely fasten to the freezer container and most of the time you have to hold it down with your hand while making the ice cream, especially when the mixture is very cold. A better design would be to have a screw-on secure lid so it wouldn't move around while processing. I am very happy with my purchase of this Dash ice cream maker and have many more flavors in mind to try before I run out of ideas. Now I can eat ice cream more often instead of only on my birthday!

This was totally an impulse buy. I saw an ad browsing the web, looked at a few reviews and next thing I know it was being shipped to my doorstep. I had low expectations when I ordered this but the reviews were positive enough for me to give it a try. Construction Quality There's not much to it and it seems reasonably well built. There is no assembly needed other than putting the pieces together needed for normal operation. The motor sounds a bit "rickety" but in my experience ice cream makers always sound similar to this one. I believe it's because of the gearing needed to have such a small motor churn thick ice cream. I am concerned the paddle may break over time because the two small prongs used to hold it into the motor. These seem like the most likely points of failure in the overall design. My other suggestions to the manufacturer would be to have a way to more securely attach the motor to the chill bowl and find a design that keeps the chill bowl cold longer. Operation It's easy to operate but there are some tips & tricks that you may need to use to get the best results. If you follow the basic instructions you should get satisfactory results. However, there are some tweaks you can use to get better results if you are not satisfied with the initial results (see "Tips & Tricks" below). Pros Compact design takes up little kitchen/freezer space Easy cleanup and care Once prep work is done you can be enjoying homemade ice cream in a matter of minutes Cons Prep work requires you to think ahead to have everything properly chilled before operation Only makes 1 cup of ice cream (not enough for many ice cream lovers) May require additional time and effort if you like your ice cream thick Tips & Tricks The chill bowl can have difficulties remaining cold long enough to produce thick ice cream. To help get the most freezing power from the ice cream maker I have done the following: Freeze everything at least 24 hours (includes every part of the ice cream maker BESIDES the motor). Freeze or chill any scoops, bowls, etc. you will be using to serve or store the ice cream. Chill your ice cream mixture for at least 12 hours in the fridge and then place in freezer until it thickens before making your ice cream (time will vary based on how cold you keep your freezer, the container you put your mixture in etc.) Do not allow the mixture to freeze or become too thick. You only want to start the freezing process so the ice cream maker can have time to inject air into the mixture while the freezing process completes in the chill bowl. Wrap a towel around the chill bowl/cup during the ice cream making process to help insulate the chill bowl so it stays cold longer. Avoid opening the ice cream maker once you've turned it on and started churning. This will inject warm air into the chamber and reduce it's cooling ability. If you prefer thicker ice cream you can place it in the freezer for several hours. I suggest scooping the ice cream into a chilled or frozen container and placing plastic wrap directly on top of any exposed ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming. Properly stored ice cream (see above) can be kept in the freezer for many days so you can continue to make a batch everyday if you want to have more than one serving ready to eat. The included recipe book has only a couple of recipes. You can find additional recipes for other flavors of ice cream on the internet. Just be sure the recipe you are using can be adapted to this maker. For example, recipes that call for the addition of additives (e.g. candy pieces) may require you use less than one cup of cream mixture to account for the space that will be consumed when you add the additional ingredients later on in the churning process. Many recipes are designed for larger ice cream makers so you need to keep this mind. I suggest you avoid adding anything to the chill bowl after you start the ice cream making process. Any additives can be stirred into the ice cream after the churning process has completed. Or you can simply incorporate these additional ingredients as toppings. When making the ice cream mixture be sure to stir it until any sugar is dissolved. I like to store my mixture in a ziplock bag marked with the earliest "use by" date on any of the perishable products you used to make the mixture. The mixture can be stored in the fridge and should be used before this date. The butter fat in the mixture may separate slightly making it look as though the mixture has curdled. This is normal for high fat content cream that is used to make ice cream. This fat will blend into the ice cream when it churns, leaving a smooth creamy consistency to the final product. When making ice cream, fat content matters. It's what puts the "cream" in ice cream. Don't use lower fat milk products expecting similar results. Most ice cream recipes use a combination of heavy cream and whole milk. You should stick to these unless the recipe specifically calls for another type of milk or dairy product. However, if you have lower fat milk instead of whole, you can replace some of the lower fat milk with more heavy cream to maintain the proper overall fat content. How effective the chill bowl is at freezing the ice cream will depend on many variables but the most important is the room temperature. The chill bowl can warm to the point where it is no longer able to freeze the ice cream before the churning process has completed (i.e. 30 minutes). At this point you may experience diminishing returns as the ice cream is no longer thickening but instead beginning to warm. If it sounds like the motor is working harder to churn the ice cream you may want to consider stopping the process there before you reach the point of diminishing returns. Making ice cream this summer I found 20-25 minutes yielded better results instead of the full 30 minutes. I suspect come cooler temps this winter the chill bowl may remain cold longer and support a 30 minute churn.

This is a great little ice cream maker, bought to make sugar free/no artificial sweeteners ice cream and was pleasantly surprised. Works with agave - honey- coconut sugar. Don’t be like me and peep in every few minutes to see if it is working- trust the process - follow the directions.

I love this ice cream (frozen yogurt) maker so much I bought a second one. For breakfast I use one cup non-fat Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon of half and half, 3 Tbs. almond milk, 2 packets Splenda, and one packet of individual serving instant coffee. Mix well and churn for 25 minutes this makes a very CREAMY (might be the half and half) frozen coffee, and only approximately 150 calories! I like that the cup holder and spoon provided. The flatness of the hard plastic spoon helps to scrap the goodness off the sides (Do NOT use metal, it will scrap the metal coating). The clean-up is easy, do NOT use soap, just warm water and dry WELL. One person mentioned freezing the cup upside down, THANK YOU, I find that I don't have any frozen yogurt sticking to the bottom. One thing to remember is to freeze 24 hours, one of the reasons I bought 2 units, I always have a frozen cup ready to go. I hope this helps someone.

I love dash products! Have a few of the, but this one is not so hotsy topsy. I love the idea of having just a little ice cream. Especially since I knew what the ingredients where. Well, I followed the instructions and used the recipe and didn’t have very much luck. First, I followed the instructions for plain old vanilla (happens to be my favorite) I took out the heavy cream and whole milk, both of which I rarely use, got out the sugar and pure vanilla extract. okay 2 cups of cream, 1 cup of milk and the other two ingredients were mixed into a bowl then plastic bag and place in the freezer for over 2 hours. (Instructions said 1-3 hours.) The chilling bowl part of the maker had been in the freezer for a week, so it should have been plenty cold. After two hours, ice creamer mixture was lumpy and semi frozen. Got out the make, put it together (very easy) and started to add a three up mixture into a one cup chilling cup. Okay no problem but the instructions didn’t say how long to mix the cream before it was ready. It did say the chilling bowl was best used within the first 20 minutes. Hum? Okay so, I turn on the motor and wait, and wait and wait. After 20 minutes, to say it was soft was a understatement. Okay I took the mixture (which had to go back into the freezer) out to refill another cup of the mixture and tried it again. That faired even worse. No texture at all. Just a soup of sweet white cream. No sense trying the third cup and it sits in my freezer, frozen solid and where it shall stay until trash day. This was a very disappointing experience. Doubt I shall be attempting this again. Must say, I love Dash’s waffle maker, bundt cake maker and egg cooker! Great little gadgets! But this one was a bust!

I love the idea of this little machine. I store the freezing section in my freezer at all times so I can make an ice treat whenever the urge arises. It makes enough for two people in a portion size we SHOULD eat (probably a lot less than what we WANT TO - or USUALLY - eat). So if portion control is important to you, this is a good thing. Otherwise you might be disappointed. The first time I used it, I followed all recommendations in the instructions as well as those given by reviewers, and my ice cream turned out perfectly. However, not so always after that. I found that temp in the room will affect the freezing ability, as well as the recipe you are using AND, most importantly, where in the defrost cycle was your freezer when you took this out and used it? Or how often had you been going into your freezer before you used it? So the bottom line for me is to keep it in the back of the freezer; don’t use it except when the freezer has sat unopened for several hours; don’t use it is you have heard the defrost cycle going; wrap a towel around it for additional insulation as it’s churning; and be satisfied with less than perfection every time. It will in most cases do enough freezing that the ice cream will still be icy and delicious. While you can and should put the churned ice cream in the freezer to harden up after churning, I find that it quickly goes from just perfect to too hard, so plan to check it regularly and eat it at just the right moment.

I've been on a keto diet for quite some time and, darn it all, I miss ice cream. Recently, while recovering from surgery, I decided I'd probably be okay with a little treat now and again. But...yeah...I really don't want to be eating sugar, nor do I want to pay a lot of money for ice cream like stuff from the store claiming to be keto. My little Dash My Pint arrived yesterday and I opened it up, read the directions, and immediately popped the inner container into the freezer overnight. Yes, I know 24 hours is what the directions say, but I could only wait 16 hours. It worked fine. I made an ice cream mix of 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, two egg yolks, a dash of salt, a squirt of liquid stevia, and a capful of vanilla extract and set the machine off. Impatient as I am, rather than waiting the full 30 minutes, I checked after 15 minutes and deemed it soft serve enough to eat. It was delicious and just the right amount for me; one cup. I did notice, as have other folks, that as your mixture freezes at the bottom of the cup it's possible for the lid, where the motor lives, to lift off. This isn't great, so I dropped one star, but if you know it's going to happen, you can deal with it. This is not the best ice cream maker in the world by any stretch. But it does work and works very well for the price. I really don't want to have quarts of ice cream around, no matter the carb count. So, for me, this is perfect. I can make a treat when I want, but not too much. I can't report on long this appliance will last, but my experience with other Dash small appliances is that they are well made and last quite some time if you take reasonable care of them. All the best!