Andrew James Ice Cream Maker 1.5L – Ice-cream Maker, Gelato & Sorbet Machine for Home, Homemade Frozen Dessert Maker Ice Cream Machine, Ready in 20 Minutes – Black

My ice-cream maker arrived last week, so I've only had time to make two recipes (Dark chocolate sorbet and Salted caramel ice cream), but both have been absolutely outstanding! Smooth, creamy, and a fraction of the price of buying shop-bought equivalents despite being far superior. Having read some of the single star reviews on here, I suspect it's probably worth adding a couple of points so that people understand what they're actually buying though... Firstly, I suspect that the people claiming that the bowl doesn't fit in a "normal" freezer actually have a freezer compartment in a fridge - an icebox, as they are sometimes referred to. It certainly fits fine in the freezer part of our fridge/freezer. The instructions do clearly say you need to chill the bowl to at least -18 degrees C. This does mean a "proper" freezer, so I doubt an icebox would work even if it could take it. The bowl dimensions are included in the description, so not difficult to check. Secondly, don't expect this to give you fully frozen ice cream straight out of the mixer. That's simply not going to happen without a built in freezer element. What you will get is a very think, very cold mixture similar to ice cream which has started to melt, and which will then solidify (and indeed go rock solid) when you put it in the freezer. So, at this point, you might be wondering what the point is, when you could just put the mixture in the freezer to start with? The point is that the machine ensures it is close enough to frozen that the freezer can take it the rest of the way to frozen without forming ice crystals in the mixture. That's effectively what you're buying here. The ability to make perfect ice cream without ice crystals. Just view that hour or so in the freezer as the final stage of the process (rather than the point where it comes out of the machine), and you'll be delighted. Finally, for the people complaining that the ice cream goes rock solid in the freezer, I'm sure there's an ingredient in commercially made ice cream to help minimize this, should you wish to add some - although even then, a freezer will turn commercially made ice cream rock solid too - but to let them into a secret, it doesn't turn it solid permanently! All you need to do is take the ice cream out of the fridge 10 minutes before you want to scoop it out and it's the ideal consistency. As a last little tip, if you put your bowl into the freezer when you take the ice cream out, that'll keep it from melting the ice cream too quickly when you serve it.

Very easy to use. Assembly is very straight-forward and the included instruction book is clear with easy to follow starter recipes. Once the bowl is ready to use (the instructions suggest leaving it in the freezer for 24 hours), it takes approximately 30 minutes to make a really good milkshake. If you want proper ice cream you then need to transfer this semi-frozen mixture into a container (as the freezer bowl doesn't have a lid which seems a bizarre oversight in my opinion!) and wait for it to freeze. When running the machine is much louder than I expected it to be and can be heard from the lounge over the TV with the kitchen door closed. Once frozen, the ice cream is VERY hard. Your cheap £5 ice cream scoop isn't going to cut it here. I invested in a Zeroll GD616 Original Ice Cream Scoop, Size 16 which is rock solid and produces a good sized scoop. I am experimenting with different recipes to see if I can get something more similar to shop-bought soft scoop. Things to be aware of: The freezer bowl is large so you should take note of the measurements and check it will fit in your freezer before ordering! You can't make ice cream straight out of the box. It takes 24 hours to cool the bowl down before being ready to use. Many ice cream recipes require you to boil the ingredients, which then needs to cool down before use so factor this time in too. The machine is really noisy. This sounds like a negative review, so why have I given it four stars over all? Because it is extremely easy to use and easy to clean and, despite its short-comings, I love being able to enjoy excellent homemade ice cream! So far I have made Bounty and Malteaser flavours, and delicious Fior de Latte. You can't beat it!

I was hesitant before I bought this. I had never made ice cream before and was concerned about the fact this could not make ice cream instantly and that people were getting mixed results. I'm happy to say for such a low price, it's great. You have to know what to expect and what to do to get great results. I've not made anything other than ice cream, so I can't comment on sorbets or anything else it's supposed to be able to do. Another thing worth noting is that generally your home made ice cream will not be cheaper than shop bought. You will however get a superior product that you have control over, and the ability to make any flavour rather than stick to half dozen available in your local super market. First off, you will not get instant ice cream after using it. There is a process. You have to fully freeze the bowl prior to using it. Make sure it frozen solid, keep it in your fridge for a few days. Most people keep their bowl in the freezer all the time so it's always ready. You have to make an ice cream base (custard) and chill it thoroughly before using it in the machine. So follow your recipe, make the base, chill it over night so it is fully cool. Place cling film directly on top of the base to stop a skin forming and put a lid on the container. If any condensation forms it will go on to the cling film and not the custard, which is good because you don't want too much water in your ice cream as this can lead to ice crystals in the finished product. Any chunky bits you plan on adding later like chocolate or nuts, it's handy to chill these at the same time. Once all this is done you can churn your ice cream. The hole on the machine is small so it's difficult to pour your base in at times, be prepared for that. Give it a little stir first to loosen it. If your bowl is fully frozen it will take 10-20 minutes to make your ice cream. If you are adding chunks of chocolate or whatever you put them at the end when the ice cream is almost made. The consistency it will achieve is soft scoop, think of it like a very, very thick milk shake that has to be spooned rather than poured. It won't be fully solid ice cream consistency yet. And then the final part. Decant your ice cream to a container, pat it down and place some baking parchment or cling film over the top of it, and pop your lid on and freeze. After 4-6 hours your ice cream is done. The quicker you can freeze it, the less likely it is that ice crystals will form. This has only ever happened once to me, and I just used that batch for milkshakes. Generally the ice cream will be very hard and difficult to scoop. This is natural. The general advice is to remove the ice cream from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving, to gently soften it enough to be able to scoop. Alternatively, if you can manage to get a couple of scoops out despite the hardness, put them in a bowl and microwave them for about ten seconds to gently soften them, but be careful doing this, you don't want to melt it. It's not perfect, it doesn't produce instant results, but it is cheap and does create excellent ice cream if you know what you're doing. I have used recipes found online, from the Ben and Jerry cookbook, Jeni Britton book, David Leibowitz and more and have achieved excellent results 99% of the time. Two minor gripes are the size of the pouring hole, which makes things a little difficult, and also the two hollow clips that attach the motor to the lid, when your ice cream has fully churned and increased in volume it can find its way in to them and they are awkward to clean out. All in all though it's a great bit of kit that I've used many times, I think most people will be happy with it if they know what they're doing and know what to expect and I hope I've helped in that regard. In my opinion, the upgrade to a 'proper' ice cream machine, with its own built in freezer etc is not worth it, it costs far more, will take up more space and you would have to make ice cream every week to justify the cost and ultimately the finished product will likely be no better than what this produces, just quicker.

I have only used this twice, but the results have been fantastic. First was frozen yoghurt, as I had some raspberries in the freezer and a pot of yoghurt in the fridge and couldn't wait to try out the machine. Second was rice ice cream, which I have had in Italy and loved - just made it with a tin of rice pudding and a pot of cream, and it was amazing! Only took 10 minutes to churn, and was perfect consistency. The free book that comes with it is excellent for inspiring quick and easy suggestions - I have never made my own ice cream before, so am happy to start with easy things (eg there are recipes using cartons of readymade custard, tinned apricots, etc - storecupboard ingredients), but am looking forward to experimenting with all sorts of flavours that are not available commercially. You can make frozen yoghurt just by pouring a carton of your favourite yoghurt in and churning - I made fat free frozen vanilla yoghurt in ten minutes - to counterbalance the cream-rich ice cream! Delicious. It is easy to use and easy to clean, and a good sized bowl. It would be even better if spare inner bowls were available, so that you could have two in the freezer at once and make two different flavours without having to clean and refreeze the bowl, but I suppose at this price I could just buy another ice cream maker! I love it, and thinking of what to make for dessert has become a whole lot easier. Some reviewers have mentioned timings - so far I made the yoghurt in 20 minutes and the rice ice cream in 10 - having chilled the ingredients first. So quick and easy. Pouring the mixture into the chute needs a steady hand (would be great if the opening were slightly bigger, but I imagine it's a balance in terms of keeping the temperature in the bowl down), but I haven't made too much mess! I just love this machine, and would definitely recommend it, even on the evidence of just two experiments - I will add a comment if I do find any problems.

With a great pity I'm gonna have to write this unsatisfactory review as I was so looking forward to my homemade ice-cream but ended up dissapointed and with an aching tummy. After a couple of months of debating whether to purchase this ice-cream maker I decided to go for it as customer's reviews were so complimentary. I thought to myself that 500 people can't be wrong and got that machine. It arrived quickly and in good condition. So as soon as I could, I put the inner bowl into my freezer and prepared my first batch of ice-cream the next day. I decided to try one of the recipes from the book sold with the machine and prepared ice-cream with rhum. I was aware that any ice-cream that contains alcohol doesn't freeze too well so I allowed my ice-cream maker to carry on churning for an extra time. After about 30 minutes of working, machine stopped as the motor overheated (safety feature). At this point my ice-cream was still very runny. I waited for a few minutes and machine restarted. After another 20 minutes or so it stopped working again and I decided to switch it off. My ice-cream looked exactly as it did before I poured it into the machine. I froze that anyway so I could enjoy (?) a very tasty but stone-hard ice-cream. I blamed myself for this failure as I thought that some recipe modifications could have impacted on the freezing properties of the mixture. So I gave it another go. This time I followed the recipe exactly, I used the coffee and walnut one. I took my inner bowl out after 9 hours in the freezer and proceeded. The same thing happened - after over an hour of working, my ice-cream was still in a form of a liquid and during this time machine stopped working a couple of times. I suspected that the inner bown did not freeze properly and hence my ice-cream would not set. So I put the mixture into the fridge and the inner bowl into the freezer for another 24 hours. After this time I attempted to make this ice-cream again and after 30 minutes of churning had a mixture with plenty of large ice-crystals, not resembling ice-cream at all. But I froze that anyway. After a while in the freezer I had a go at my ice-cream just to experience terrible stomach pains arterwards. I chucked the rest of the ice-cream away and put the machine in the box ready to be shipped back to the manufacturer. But here came another dissapointment as I was told that I would need to cover the cost of return, £3.99 which I found outrageous! Not only I had to pay for a pricey delivery but now would need to pay even more? What a joke!!! I am so dissapointed with this machine, how it performs (or not!), with how noisy it is and with how my concerns were handled by the seller. I would advise anybody who wants to purchase this product to leave it, just go and get yourself a box of ice-cream! For all the effort I put into making my own batches and all the hassle, I would say it's not worth it! I will keep it wrapped in a box and perhaps give it to someone I don't particularly like very much on their birthday as i have no intention of ever using it again! If only I could I would give it 0 stars, and I had such high hopes for this machine, very dissapointed :(

I'm a keen maker of ice-cream and when (after many years of regular use) the bowl of my previous machine (A 1.5 litre Magimix) fractured and leaked I aimed to simply replace it with the current model: Magimix Le...

I spent a long time looking at a variety of ice cream makers before settling on this particular model. I have seen a number of Andrew James products on Amazon and so felt extra confident about making this purchase. The product arrived promptly and was well packed. It had a free ice cream recipe book included with a wide variety of recipes to choose from. The first job was to wash, thoroughly dry and pop the bowl into the freezer so that it can freeze overnight. When making ice cream it helps significantly if the mixture that you are adding to the ice cream maker is chilled first. Whenever I make ice cream, I prepare the mixture the night before. That way the mixture has time to chill overnight. If you are looking to make fresh ice cream for the evening, then make the mixture first thing in the morning and get it chilling throughout the day. This ice cream maker is well constructed and very easy to use. Make sure you follow the instructions and do not add any mixture into the ice cream maker before it is assembled, switched on and the paddle turning. When the mixture hits the bowl it will start to freeze and it’s important that the mixture is kept moving at all times. Depending on how chilled the mixture is before you start to churn will directly reflect on the length of time it will take before your ice cream is ready. This will normally be between 20 to 30 minutes. It you get your timing right, then you can dish up fresh ice cream at the end of your dinner party. I tend to make batches in advance for the kids as it does not take them many days to polish off a batch. In addition I have also tried making soft whip ice cream in the Andrew James Ice Cream Maker. The soft whip ice cream, the type used to make your ice cream vans 99’s, come in a 1 litre carton. This works an absolute treat with the item but do not be tempted to add any more then 500ml at a time. The mixture will expand to the whole bowl as it freezes so half the carton at a time makes plenty! To sum up this product, I am very please with this purchase. It has successfully made many flavours of ice cream for my family and friends. It is quick and reliable and at an excellent price. I am very pleased with this purchase and would thoroughly recommend it to all budding ice cream makers.

I've used this precisely once since buying over 3 months ago and that attempt was a bit of a disaster! as I As a seasoned manual ice-cream maker, I bought this specifically to avoid baby-sitting the product whilst freezing. Bowl duly frozen as per instructions, the moisture froze on contact with it, making it impossible for the paddle to budge. There is no customer service from Andrew James. The ice-cream tastes great, but being high in fat takes a hacksaw to cut through so considerable defrosting is needed before serving. Combined with the volume (it takes a whopping 1.6L which takes up considerable freezer space) its going to be a while before I try it again, and even then I won't be looking to fill the whole bowl again, just in case. Am updating this after my second attempt in Feb 2024 - this time I followed the instructions and poured the chilled mixture into the running machine slowly and carefully. I ran it for 30 mins, then another 15 just to be sure and then froze. The outcome is really smooth, can be served straight from the freezer despite the high fat content and crucially is crystal-free! I can't believe how easy this makes ice-cream making, also washing it up was a doddle as the lid detached from the motor easily. I can't wait until my next attempt, just as soon as I empty out the freezer.