Since posting about The Ice Cream Experiment, I’ve had all kinds of comments and emails asking which Ice Cream Maker I would recommend. Thought I’d pop on real quickly and tell you about my favorite!
A couple of years ago when Matt and I were dabbling in the Shaved Ice and Homemade Ice Cream business, a friend told us that the BEST ice cream maker was the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker.
We weren’t sure at first, mostly because the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker is quite pricey compared to others we’d looked at (you know, like at Wal-mart).
But after checking into the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker and seeing what a high quality machine it was, we decided to order it. Almost two years later, we couldn’t be more pleased with our purchase. This ice cream maker is like none other we’d ever used. We’d already gone through three cheap ice cream makers (the $25 makers you can get at the store). But our White Mountain? This baby is made to last, making it well worth the investment.
Our favorite part is that the can that you use to make the ice cream in is made of stainless steel. All others we’ve had were made of aluminum (which we now avoid, especially for dairy products). And…the motor/gear piece that turns the ice cream? It’s made of cast iron.
Yeah, the White Mountain is one heavy contraption. Did I mention the big tub is made of pine? It’s awesome.
The White Mountain people aren’t paying me to tell you all of this. I just love their product. Our ice cream is usually finished churning and ready to eat in about 25 minutes.
And now seriously, I am SO hungry for ice cream. I have GOT to get my hands on some cream.
I’d love for you all to let us know what your favorite ice cream maker is! Any great recommendations for us?
White Mountain ice cream makers are great–I don’t have one, but my parents did when I was growing up! I have a Krups, the kind that you stick the container in the freezer. I LOVE it, and have had it for years. If I had to mess with salt and ice, we would rarely have ice cream. With my Krups we have it weekly.
I totally agree. I have the same one and we SO love it!
How do you deal with the raw eggs in ice cream recipes?
If I have farm fresh free ranged eggs from a friend of mine, I don’t worry one bit about using them. If I don’t have any available, I skip the eggs and add extra cream!
If you cook the eggs and milk/cream into a custard, as one does in French-style custard ice cream, you get a very rich, smooth ice cream and no danger from raw eggs. Here’s an explanation of how to make custard ice cream.
My dad loves homemade ice cream and so I bought him a counter top Cuisinart model a few years ago – the kind where you can freeze the chamber. It’s great for my parents because it only makes 1.5 quarts and it’s a lot less messy than dealing with the ice and salt.
With temps in the 80’s and 90’s (North Carolina), I will have to enjoy ice cream soon. I did enjoy Justus’ shaved ice last weekend, however. I don’t own a machine, but I look forward to making Ziploc bag ice cream.
White Mountain makes great ice cream freezers – built to last and to make great, smooth ice cream, so long as you don’t mind dealing with ice and salt. The new compression ice cream makers offer another, easier option, too. But some of the cheaper canister models do a fantastic job and are built to last, too.
For anyone thinking of getting an ice cream maker, check out our latest ice cream maker reviews and ratings at The-Ice-Cream-Maker.com and follow our easy 5 steps to choosing the best ice cream maker for you.
Yes, White mountain is THE BEST. I have the manual crank version through. There is a lot of nostalgia for me in everyone taking turns at the crank!
I love our White Mountain Ice cream maker. It is the best. My only problem is that it makes so much ice cream that you hve to have 20+ of your closest friends over to eat it all. Do you have an ice cream recipe that freezes well afterwards?
Do you ever have leftover ice cream and if so, how do you store it? I found the ice cream we made, although initially wonderful, became crystallized when we put it in the freezer to have again later. (Of course, we don’t have a White Mountain ice cream maker).
Also, not that I’m advocating this, but we’ve seen more than one Food Channel show where the host has said it is ok to use raw eggs if they are purchased under “normal” conditions (i.e. from a grocery store or know farmer) and stored properly upon purchase. Alton Brown said that the only circumstance where eggs may be a concern these days is if they are from a restaurant where they may be allowed to sit out on the counter. I’m just repeating what I saw, so no tomatoes please… but, we eat raw cookie dough all the time and have never had a problem.
Food Network rocks!! I’m a fan of Alton Brown!
I have a kitchen aid stand mixer (wedding presents from my in-laws, love it!) And because I am a huge fan of all-in-one kitchen appliances, I just got the ice cream maker attachment for that. It is very easy to use, just put the bowl in the freezer for a couple days, add the ingredients and turn on the mixer. It might have aluminum inside, but my husband and I didn’t really take that into consideration when we were looking at purchasing it.
However, overall, I am very pleased with the quality of the ice cream maker attachment! ps. I have the grain mill attachment too :-)
I loved your ice cream experiment; thank you for doing it and reporting your results! And I laughed out loud at your pictures of spoons stuck into the dessicated ice cream sponges! Hilarious! You always make me laugh :-)
I too have the kitchen aid attachment maker! I LOVE IT… NO MESS, NO ICE, NO SALT… just yummy yummy icecream!
OK we did it. My kids did actually have ice cream with breakfast this morning. The way it happened is that I’ve never made ice cream before (as an adult, actually in charge of the process) and we have a new machine (just a regular Hamilton Beach $30 one) and I tried to time everything so that the kids could have a bowl of ice cream after dinner but before bed. Yeah, well, 8:30 came and it was still churning so the kids had to go without. So this morning when they woke up – what’s the first thing they asked for? And I thought well, it really is made up of breakfast foods…and it’s just this once… they loved it!
We too have a White Mountain that we just invested in last summer, and we love it! Just used it again over the weekend, 6 qt style. Lovely, creamy vanilla ice cream is all we’ve made so far (it’s just so good, we’re reluctant to try a new recipe), even without eggs in our recipe. Mmm!
Just found a White Mountain Electric on Craigslist for $5 with 2 bags of salt! What? I believe it’s a sign from God that we must have an ice cream maker:) I’m all in! Thanks for the recommendation.
I was looking on Amazon at the reviews for this machine. They aren’t very good. I want to buy this machine, but now I am skeptical. Not sure what I’ll do.
oh interesting. one of your links above leads to an outdated model that received less stars. i see the other link leads to the better maker that you use now. cool..i feel better now. :)
The White Mountain is the best, hands down. I don’t care what other sites say, they do the job and do it well. This is real home made ice cream. There is no other. Believe me, I have tried.
I use a 20 quart ice cream maker. It is great for parties with a lot of people. It will usually feed about 50 people with one batch!
These churns are the very best and made in the USA.
Hand crank is a great activity for all of your kids and the old people remember Suday afternoons making ice cream.