ZOKU Ice Cream Maker, Compact Make and Serve Bowl with Stainless Steel Freezer Core Creates Soft Serve, Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and More in Minutes, BPA-free, Green

I'm trying to eat healthier and cut calories but who can resist ice cream during a hot summer. Some people think this is a bit small but it works for me. It IS small so it doesn't take up too much room in the freezer. Mine is always there ready to be used. In addition to portion control, it allows me to experiment with different flavors, combinations and concoctions and not be stuck with a lot of something that doesn't thrill me. Right now I am experimenting with sorbets as well as cottage cheese ice creams (yesterday was peanut butter cup made with peanut powder and a crushed peanut butter cup). Next will be some fruit flavors. It doesn't take long to have a soft-serve ice cream but it can become harder and icier if you eat it at too leisurely a pace.Another use for it is to keep store-bought ice cream cold. Again keeping with portion control, I sometimes buy ice cream pops or bars. They can start to melt in the heat so I rest them in the Zoku. If I break down and buy a container of ice cream, I serve it in the Zoku.The parts of the ice cream maker come apart easily (and assemble easily) for easy cleaning. Just dry it thoroughly before putting it back in the freezer.If you have a Zoku slushy maker (as I do), I think this basically works the same way. It is just shaped differently.

Love this ice cream maker. It's small and easy to use. Takes up very little space in the freezer. Makes the perfect single serving size, about 6 oz. And it's very affordable.For best results keep the freezing bowl in the freezer, so that it is always ready for use when you have a craving for a cold sweet treat, but can't get to the store, or maybe you want to make your own flavour.Several recipes are provided, or you can use your own.Once you've mixed your ice cream base, take the bowl from the freezer and pour in the mixture. Quickly mix with the Provided spoon. The creamy blend becomes a nice soft serve ice cream in a few minutes. Can be put in freezer to become firmer.Great purchase if you want to make ice cream, but don't have room for a large machine, or you just like to make a single serving.

I bought this along with two other single-serving ice cream makers (the DASH one with a motorized paddle, and the ZOKU jumbo shake maker). I ended up returning the other two for being virtually unusable. This one works great, though. The bowl is conical instead of cylindrical, which makes it much easier to scrape the sides and prevents too much of the smaller volume from freezing solid. It's still too much effort to use on a daily basis, but I'll still whip it out on the weekend for a nice treat.

It does make a couple of servings of soft served ice cream: note my freezer is set at 0°F.I like the silicone ring around the outer lip for scraping ice cream off. The size is just right.This is a great option for people with diabetes to make low carb no sugar ice cream because stores/brands don’t specialize in that market.The only con I can see is the outer bowl doesn’t stay connected to the rim of the inner bowl so the inner bowl moves around a lot. It seems like the inner bowl expands after freezing and then becomes too tall for the outer bowl to hold steady.

I got this for my grandchildren, five and three years old, but they're too young to really stick with it and to understand that you have to keep scraping the sides and bottom. No problem because I can have a nice soft serve in just a matter of minutes and if I keep adding a little of my ice cream mix to the bowl I get enough for them and me as they don't generally eat a lot of sweets so a little is all they really want.I find the mixture really starts hardening up on the sides as soon as you pour it in. I pour in about a quarter cup and immediately start scraping the sides and bottom with a small stainless steel children's spoon and not with the plastic spoon thing that came with it as overall we don’t use plastic items. The spoon hasn’t scratched the surface and works great. Once the ice cream starts to thicken I then add more mixture and go at the sides and bottom again and it all combines and helps the new mixture to freeze up fast. I do this about two to four more times as I usually get a nice soft serve to dish up to the kids right away. Right away is less than ten minutes.I'd read that this won't work with different sweeteners but it works great for me with Pyrue sweetener which is an organic blend of erythritol and stevia and it works with monk fruit powder. I haven't tried sugar as I don't buy sugar. I usually have just plain vanilla ice cream but I've added cocoa for really good chocolate ice cream and cherries for cherry ice cream. It's easy to make up a mixture and to add anything you want once it starts getting a little hard. I haven’t tried a sorbet yet or frozen yogurt.I liked this enough to buy another one even though the kids aren't really into it as young as they are. It's nice to have one in the freezer ready to go while the other one dries. It's also nice to have a stainless steel method to make your homemade ice cream that can match up to many store-bought brands. A little organic cream, organic milk, organic sweetener, a dash of Himalayan salt and a little bit of scraping and mixing and I'm a happy organic grandmother.

I never used the item, because once it was in the freezer it began oozing a blue very strong-smelling chemical slime that dripped all over my freezer as well as my hands when I lifted it out of there.The smell coming from it was very strong and awful.I would never use this for food, and it definitely has a serious defect. It should not leak at all.