Review: New Air Ice Cream Maker (Recipe: Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream)
When you take a road trip, you have a lot of time to talk. When I was talking to Cate during our recent trip to Boston I mentioned that I was oh-so-very-close to buying an ice cream maker. She mentioned that she had one that was sent to her for review and hadn't had the time to give it a try yet... and would I like to take it and do the review? Hmmmm.... didn't take long for me to say yes!
I've always loved homemade ice cream... one of the best things about having a summer birthday was that I was usually able to get My Mom to drag out her ice cream maker so I could have some homemade chocolate ice cream to go with my birthday cake. I remember how loud that machine was and I think she had to use rock salt or something like that, but she never had to pre-freeze the bowl or anything (that I remember).
When Cate and I met for lunch a little over a week ago, she presented me with a large box that weighed about 30 pounds. My first thought was "what in the world is inside this box?" Seriously, what could make the New Air Ice Cream Maker weigh so much? Other machines I had been shopping out were not nearly this big or heavy.
Once it was out of the box, I realized that this was a professional grade machine, but designed for home use. No pre-freezing of anything with this one, it has a built-in compressor! I was very intrigued by the fact that all I had to do was add my mixed ingredients and set the timer and let it do it's thing. Yes, it's that easy.
Our first batch was a rich chocolate ice cream. I plan to make that one again, and will share the recipe once I have some photos to go along with it. My Oldest requested strawberry ice cream be the next test of this machine.
The manual comes with some starter recipes and I followed the recipe for Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream... with one addition, thanks to My Husband. He thought that the strawberries needed a little "help" to ensure the ice cream would be the right color and have enough strawberry flavor. So, a couple of tablespoons of Nestle Quick Strawberry mix was added to the mixture.
When you need to add fruit or other add-ins, there is an opening that you can use to add them. Just make sure that they are small and add them in slowly so that they will be well distributed throughout the ice cream.
The machine is very attractive with a stainless steel exterior, but it does take up some serious counter-top real estate. It's not something that will be hanging out on my counter all the time due to space constraints.
When the machine is running, it's actually much quieter than I thought it would be - kind of a low humming sound. You can still carry on a conversation while it's running.
The resulting ice cream is very creamy when it first comes out of the machine. If you don't finish the 1.5 quarts in one sitting - for die-hard ice cream lovers, that may not be a problem - you can put the leftovers in the freezer. It becomes very scoopable, but not quite as creamy. That may be due to the longer freezing time or the recipe. Not sure as I'm still experimenting with recipes at this point. I'll be sharing how different recipes come out as I go along.
The Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream was a bit too sweet the first time I tasted it - I blame it on the Nesquick that was added to it. But, when I tasted it again later, it seemed to have "mellowed" a bit. The kids gave it an overwhelming thumb's up!
Editing to add (8/14/2011): When the ice cream finishes, it is more a "soft serve" consistency, not truly scoopable. I happen to love soft serve (ie: Dairy Queen) ice cream. The photo you see above is after I had placed the ice cream in the freezer since I made it too late at night to serve and take photos.
What are your favorite ice cream flavors?
Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Adapted from the New Air AIC-220 Ice Cream Maker Manual
Ingredients
Please note that all photos and content belong to Patsy Kreitman, unless otherwise noted. If you want to use something please ask first.
I've always loved homemade ice cream... one of the best things about having a summer birthday was that I was usually able to get My Mom to drag out her ice cream maker so I could have some homemade chocolate ice cream to go with my birthday cake. I remember how loud that machine was and I think she had to use rock salt or something like that, but she never had to pre-freeze the bowl or anything (that I remember).
When Cate and I met for lunch a little over a week ago, she presented me with a large box that weighed about 30 pounds. My first thought was "what in the world is inside this box?" Seriously, what could make the New Air Ice Cream Maker weigh so much? Other machines I had been shopping out were not nearly this big or heavy.
Once it was out of the box, I realized that this was a professional grade machine, but designed for home use. No pre-freezing of anything with this one, it has a built-in compressor! I was very intrigued by the fact that all I had to do was add my mixed ingredients and set the timer and let it do it's thing. Yes, it's that easy.
Our first batch was a rich chocolate ice cream. I plan to make that one again, and will share the recipe once I have some photos to go along with it. My Oldest requested strawberry ice cream be the next test of this machine.
The manual comes with some starter recipes and I followed the recipe for Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream... with one addition, thanks to My Husband. He thought that the strawberries needed a little "help" to ensure the ice cream would be the right color and have enough strawberry flavor. So, a couple of tablespoons of Nestle Quick Strawberry mix was added to the mixture.
When you need to add fruit or other add-ins, there is an opening that you can use to add them. Just make sure that they are small and add them in slowly so that they will be well distributed throughout the ice cream.
When the machine is running, it's actually much quieter than I thought it would be - kind of a low humming sound. You can still carry on a conversation while it's running.
The resulting ice cream is very creamy when it first comes out of the machine. If you don't finish the 1.5 quarts in one sitting - for die-hard ice cream lovers, that may not be a problem - you can put the leftovers in the freezer. It becomes very scoopable, but not quite as creamy. That may be due to the longer freezing time or the recipe. Not sure as I'm still experimenting with recipes at this point. I'll be sharing how different recipes come out as I go along.
The Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream was a bit too sweet the first time I tasted it - I blame it on the Nesquick that was added to it. But, when I tasted it again later, it seemed to have "mellowed" a bit. The kids gave it an overwhelming thumb's up!
Editing to add (8/14/2011): When the ice cream finishes, it is more a "soft serve" consistency, not truly scoopable. I happen to love soft serve (ie: Dairy Queen) ice cream. The photo you see above is after I had placed the ice cream in the freezer since I made it too late at night to serve and take photos.
What are your favorite ice cream flavors?
Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream
Adapted from the New Air AIC-220 Ice Cream Maker Manual
Ingredients
- 1 pint (about 1 1/2 cups) fresh strawberries - cut into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons Nesquick Strawberry mix (optional - I would recommend just 1 tablespoon the first time you try it)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- In a small bowl, combine the strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar. Stir gently and allow to "marinate" for at 1-2 hours. Drain the juice from the strawberries, and set aside both the juice and the strawberries.
- In a medium-sized bowl, use a mixer to combine the milk and 2/3 cup of sugar until well-blended and sugar is dissolved.
- Add in the heavy cream, vanilla and juice from the strawberries.
- Turn on the machine and add the milk mixture to the mixing bowl. Set the timer for 50-60 minutes. Check the mixture at 50 minutes, if it is getting very thick go ahead and add the strawberries. Allow to mix for an additional 5 minutes (if it's too thin due to residual juices, allow to mix for an additional 10 minutes instead).
Please note that all photos and content belong to Patsy Kreitman, unless otherwise noted. If you want to use something please ask first.
Comments
Thanks for the post!