Blog:Grust Reviews the Ice Cream Maker Attachment for the Kitchen Aid Standmixer

Note: This is not a game review, but if you like ice cream and have a standmixer, give this a read.

August 14th was my 33rd birthday and a week before me and my dad went to a kitchen shop and bought the ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid standmixer. Outside of gaming and anime, cooking is my secondary hobby.

The day of my birthday, I immediately read the instructions, placed the ice cream bowl in the freezer and the next day worked on a chocolate ice cream base (recipe from my favorite celebrity chef Alton Brown from Good Eats Episode, Churn Baby Churn II). Finally Friday the big day came, I started up my standmixer and began the churning process. In only 25 minutes.... the best damn chocolate ice cream I ever ate. My dad even says it reminds him of an old ice cream shop he visited in the 70s. The bowl has a liquid inside of it that freezes when put in the freezer so it slowly freezes the ice cream as it churns, and the churn attachment uses two pieces  that separate in a way that minimizes a mess. The top pieces attaches to the rotating mechanism of the standmixer while the churner stays in place in the bowl. When the mixer head is placed down, gear like teeth move the churner around. When the head lifts up the churner stays in the bowl so you can prepare yourself to put the ice cream in a container with a reduced chance of making a mess. The bowl also allows you to make about 2 quarts of ice cream.

Now before this I had some slight doubt about the stand mixer due to 2 YouTube videos. The first one I saw showed a still image of this product and a big mess and the second showed a countertop ice cream maker (which uses a similar concept) failing to churn ice cream. After using this I have to say...

The guy who made a mess was clearly an idiot. I used mine for the first time and everything turned out all right. What I believe happened was he used a higher speed than necessary, in fact even before I ever read the instructions, I knew for sure I'd only need the stir setting and I was correct. He also very likely poured the base in before turning on the mixer.

As for the second video, the guy admitted the bowl was not ready as he heard some sloshing inside. So the failure of that video was not the fault of the machine but himself.

After using this, I know for sure this thing works and even before I knew, I was so excited I kept looking online for ice cream recipes. I'm also looking forward to making some vanilla ice cream (vanilla extract is good enough for me, vanilla beans are way too expensive) and adding some ground Butterfinger (my favorite candy bar) into it. If it ends up tasting half as good as the chocolate (lol couldn't resist), I'll never need Dairy Queen ever again. Update: I have made Butterfinger ice cream (just by adding chopped up Butterfinger to vanila base) and after having it, I don't think I'll ever have Butterfinger Blizzards ever again. Once I find a good cookie dough, I'll never need Dairy Queen ever again.

Now this does have its flaws. The bowl is fairly heavy so it may take some effort to get the ice cream out into a container and it is not machine washable and needs to be thoroughly dried before being put back in the freezer. But other than that, it is an awesome accessory and a must own if you love ice cream and have a Kitchen Aid Standmixer.

