Afloia 2 Qt Electric Ice Cream Maker Review

High capacity, easy to use, tasty results. Amazon Affiliate Product Link: https://geni.us/nvo8 As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned The unit is made of a lightweight plastic and the translucent black cover at the top is removable with a simple counter-clockwise twist. The rounded-corner opening in the middle allows you to monitor your ice cream’s progress and make additions during churning. In the machine you’ll find a plastic churning paddle. There are two outer wall-scraping blades, and a center stirring blade that will churn and distribute the ice cream in the machine. It uses a 2 quart freezer bowl that has a smooth, white plastic exterior and aluminum interior. the bowl has a 5.25 inch diameter opening and is 4.75 inches deep. The bowl is quite lightweight and weighs only 4 lbs, despite being filled with a gel liquid freezing agent. If you shake the bowl when it’s defrosted, you’ll hear the liquid sloshing around. The main body of the ice cream maker houses the motor. It has a thick, heavy-duty two-prong attached power cable that measures 6 ft long. At the front is a simple toggle dial for off and on. On the bottom of the freezer bowl is a gear-shaped cutout, which matches perfectly with the gear inside the main body. There’s even a drainage hole in the back corner in case any liquid spills between the bowl and the housing by accident. The hole drains straight to the bottom of the machine so that it won’t damage any of the internal components. There are rubber feet on the bottom for stability and a fan exhaust to keep the motor cool. Assembling the machine is simple. Just place the freezer bowl in the main housing and rotate until it drops over the gear, place the stirring paddle in the bowl, then drop the cover on top and turn clockwise to lock in place. The instruction manual provides a few tips and tricks for using the machine and several recipes. I've made ice cream a couple times since getting this machine and was happy with the results, however, do think there are a couple tricks you can use to ensure your ice cream comes out smooth and delicious. The first is to be sure to set your freezer at the lowest temperature possible before setting the bowl inside to freeze. While mine’s usually set to 4 degrees F, I lower it to -6 degrees to ensure the bowl is as cold as possible when I start churning. The second tip is to mix your ingredients the day before and set in the refrigerator overnight so that all the ingredients will be cold before you pour it into the machine. While you can use smaller batch recipes for 1.5 quarts, I recommend churning full 2 Qt recipes to maximize the amount of ingredients touching the frozen walls of the bowl. Make sure to turn the machine on before adding your ice cream liquid. this machine rotates fairly slowly compared to other ice cream makers. I also noticed that there’s a pretty wide gap between the paddle and the freezer bowl, so my main concern was that the ice cream would end up a bit icy. On hot days, place a cover over the top to prevent ambient heat from entering the bowl and melting your ice cream while it’s churning. Another trick I use to avoid overly icy churns is to add a shot of spirits or liqueur at the end of the churn. This lowers the freezing point of the batch making it set up softer for easier scooping. Average total churn time is about 35-40 minutes depending on your starting temperatures and ingredients used. When emptying out the freezer bowl, the ice cream may be a bit soupy but should have frozen bits throughout like a milkshake or slushie. When you scrape out the freezer bowl, make sure to use a rubber or silicone spatula and nothing hard like metal, plastic, or wood as any of these materials could scratch or damage the interior of the bowl and affect its performance. Then freeze the churned ice cream overnight so that it can fully set. My ice cream recipes made ice cream in this machine with a dense, smooth buttery texture. It’s not as airy and light as store bought ice cream, but I don't use any additives (except liqueurs) or texture conditioners so for a basic recipe, it’s pretty good. I’m actually quite pleased with how it turned out. Honestly the hardest part of this process is waiting for the ice cream to set! recipes with fruit tend to be icier due to the water content of the fruit, so if you want a smoother texture, you’d have to add more solids to break that up. You could do that by making a custard base, with egg yolks, added dry milk powder, or adding additional sugar, but obviously that would have an impact on the final taste of the ice cream. You could even add in another shot of alcohol during churning to soften it up even more. The plain recipes are still really good, and I love how the ice cream batches turned out. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned Amazon Affiliate Product Link: https://geni.us/nvo8