Donvier 1-Quart Manual Ice Cream Maker

I love the Donvier - I lost mine to a divorce almost 20 years ago, so thrilled to have it back! I had a KitchenAid attachment that leaked, and just thought it wasn't worth it to replace. This freezes quickly , is far quieter, and better built. The only reason it is not five stars is that the paddles are not as strong as my original - it has worked, but worry what would happen if it broke. It arrived in good time, and in every other way I am really happy - I won't need to get another ice cream maker. Today, Pineapple :)

I bought this because we have milk cows and lots of excess milk. I literally make about a quart a day so I really got to test it. I bought this particular brand because my Mom always raved about it back in the 1990's. For the most part it's easy to use. Because my freezer is set at -5, it gets so cold that I have to be super quick once I pour in the cold ice cream mixture or it will freeze the out layer immediately and make it hard to turn. But in a normal freezer this shouldn't be a problem. When it is hard to turn, all the abuse I do to it to get it to turn, it hasn't broken yet. The directions say to give it a turn about every 2 minutes. I have to give it a turn initially about every 45 seconds. So that would be the only thing I would say to be cautious about. It is easy to clean.

This is the best home ice cream maker I have ever used. It isn't quite as old fashioned as the ones where you add ice and salt, but you still get the same feeling, and it doesn't use electricity and make noise like the electric ones. We have made fancy ice cream mixes and ones so simple we just mix milk with chocolate syrup and the consistency of the final product is amazing. You have to follow the assembly instructions carefully when getting ready to make ice cream but once you get the hang of it, you won't believe how good frozen treats from this thing can be. We also mix yogurt with some milk and some cut-up fruit, add some agave syrup and it is better than anything you get at a store. The smaller pint Donvier is awesome as well. The mixer is made with quality parts. This thing is fun, makes amazing frozen desserts and is really like a little miracle machine--highly recommend!

This is so easy to use - I guess the only potential problem for anyone is if they have a small freezer. But it is such a delight to watch the freezing process. I did not want a messy, noisy or difficult to clean device and this is wonderful and not mechanized and also doesn't use salt or ice. I've had it for only 2 weeks and have made 3 different types of ice cream and one sorbet. The only prob so far has been that the rubber gasket that one fits onto the frozen inner barrel, can be tricky to slide into the main exterior housing. A work-around is to turn the frozen unit with the gasket upside down on a bench and then put the exterior main piece on top of it - lining up the arrows. and Viola! (sort of).

Wow! I first read about the Donvier manual ice cream maker in Linda Watson's book "Wildly Affordable Organic," (which I also recommend). I wanted to get one, but frankly, I didn't want to spend the money. I was also slightly leery. I had an ice cream maker before that was a real pain. It was electric and had to be packed with rock salt. The motor rivaled a plane at take-off - - I had to put it out in the car port, where it ground away for an hour, probably bothering the neighbors. I ended up using it very seldom and finally gave it away.But finally, after searching in vain for ice cream that didn't have guar gum and other weird ingredients, I decided to break down and try an ice cream maker again. Time to invest in the Donvier.Are we impressed! We have enjoyed making our own concoctions - like strawberry-pretzel and maple-walnut. Next up will be flavors from my childhood in Brazil - avocado and dried plum. The Donvier is amazingly easy to use. We like the low-tech (non-electric) set-up, with no special ingredients or supplies needed. I honestly cannot see myself buying ice cream from the store again. Thank you, Donvier, and thanks to Linda Watson, without whom I would not have heard of this great product. My only concern is what seems like a flimsy plastic crank. I wish it was metal so I didn't worry it breaking. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, we'll be enjoying our homemade ice cream. What to make next? Cranberry? Sweet potato?

I love this ice cream maker almost as much as the ice cream it makes. I have been following a low carb diet for six months now and with this machine I can have ice cream every day and still lose weight. I usually use the recipe for basic vanilla ice cream in the book that comes with it, substituting stevia for sugar. One cup of ice cream has about 10 grams of carbs done like this, so I can fit it into my diet. Sugar free store bought ice cream can't come close to that carb wise. A cup of my home made ice cream does have a lot of calories however, which is good for me since I often have trouble getting enough calories and fat in my diet. I've lost 30 lbs since going on the low carb diet, and 10 of those pounds came off since I started eating ice cream every day for the last six weeks. I store the excess ice cream in 1/2 cup containers, so I can choose to eat 1/2 cup or more of the ice cream in the evening, depending on my carb count for the day.I did have one problem with this ice cream maker that I have now resolved. As it turns out, my deep freeze ice chest was set to as cold as it would go. I don't have a thermometer in there, but zero is in the middle of the dial. The freezer bucket for the Donvier was getting so cold that it was very difficult to get that first turn of the handle. The paddle would distort and pop off of the peg in the bottom of the freezer bowl. Since I turned the temperature control on the freezer down to just below zero, making ice cream is now fun and rewarding.

It's almost a 5-star, I like it alot.The main concern is that the churn blade and crank handle are plastic, so i feel that at some point there will be breaks. Which would be a shame and a waste, since overall the unit appears to be quite well-made. Anyhow, works easily to make some of the best ice cream I've tasted - as good as or better than the premium $6/pint brands.Once the freezer cylinder has been chilled in the freezer for the requisite 7 or so hours, you can make a batch of ice cream, then return the (emptied, washed) cylinder to to freezer, where it re-chills enough for another batch in about 1 hour. I just keep the cylinder in the freezer all the time, ready to go whenever. Makes about 1 qt at a time, in about 20 minutes.The recipe booklet has a handful of simple recipes, which are fine as far as they go. Several of them use raw eggs, so the final product has raw eggs in it. Classic recipes for ice cream (frozen custard) usually cook the eggs, "Philly" style sometimes leaves eggs out altogether...

Years ago, my ex-husband and I received an electric ice cream maker as a wedding gift. We made some wonderful ice cream with it and each put on about 40 lbs during our first year of marriage. I've hesitated to get another one but finally decided that if we had to work for the ice cream by cranking it, we wouldn't make it so frequently. That strategy seems to be working for us as we've only made two batches of wonderful ice cream within a month. The piece that snaps onto the top is challenging to snap on, so be sure you do this before you pour in the ingredients. If you don't, the mixture will start freezing while you're fidgeting to get the top attached, and you won't be able to start turning the crank until you scrape the frozen stuff off of the sides (voice of experience here ;-). It probably tells you to do that in the instructions, but I was so anxious to make ice cream that I didn't take the time to read the instructions. Once you know how to use it, this machine works great. It only takes a couple of minutes to whip up a batch of ice cream and then 20 to 25 minutes of turning the crank while you watch your favorite TV show.

I have an older version of the Donvier and have loved it. This will be a great addition so that I can make two batches of homemade ice-cream at a time.

I had a Donvier that I got as a wedding gift 40 years ago, I had lost the rubber ring and was unable to replace it so I purchased a new one. I use it every week to make ice cream, it is quick and easy and the ice cream is far better than anything yo will purchase in the store. My son took the my old one and uses it with out the plastic seal!!

Easy , manual ice cream makerNo batteries, nothing to plug inFun activity for the whole family!!

The best little ice cream maker! Follow their recipe and add 1/2 cup of sour cream or 1/2 cup extra whipping cream, plus 2 scoops (inside the collogen jar) of Dr. Axe Collogen for ice cream that does not get "icy" in the freezer. The collogen is colorless and flavorless and prevents the ice cream from developing annoying ice crystals. For delicious lemon custard ice cream add the zest (grated outer peel, only the yellow part) of a whole lemon. You will have the best lemon custard ice cream! You can even add some of the lemon juice if you like a little tartness. I am in ice cream heaven! By the way, once you remove the paddle from the ice cream maker, let the ice cream sit and stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon every few minutes to harden the ice cream even more. The ice cream maker is so good a retaining its coldness that it will be cold for hours! Very amazing.

I had been researching all kinds of ice cream makers from electric, to compressor style. We used to have a donvier ice cream maker years ago, worked very well, and made great ice cream. Was so excited to see that donvier is still made.When it arrived, I put the canister into the freezer in my frig. Wrapped canister in plastic bag first, to make it easier to handle.Let canister freeze overnight, then made a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream base sweetened with stevia. I remembered from the past that the tricky part was putting the rubber gasket/seal on the canister, so soaked the gasket briefly in some hot water to warm it up so it would be more flexible, then was able to pop the gasket right onto the canister with no problem, poured in about 1 qt of my ice cream base which I had chilled overnite in frig.And away we go! Turned handle several times, let ice cream maker sit 3-4 min, then turned again, repeated. After about 15 - 20 min, ice cream was at a nice soft serve consistency.Turned ice cream out into a glass dish, added homemade blackberry sauce, and swirled the sauce through the ice cream. Scooped this all into a carton, popped on lid, and into the freezer it went. Absolutely delicious vanilla blackberry swirl ice cream.I still had quite a bit of ice cream base left over, which I stored in frig. Next day, I strained a quart of unflavored, unsweetened nonfat yogurt, through a sieve to remove liquid, then blended the yogurt with remaining ice cream base. Added frozen thawed strawberries, mashed and sweetened lightly with stevia to the yogurt/ice cream base. Again, the little donvier turned out fabulous strawberry yogurt ice cream.And here's the best part: After the first batch of the yogurt ice cream, I still had about 3/4 qt of base left. Scooped out the first batch of yogurt ice cream into carton. Poured remainder of base into donvier, and wondered if it would make another batch back to back, with no return of the canister to freezer. It worked! Took a little longer this time, about 25 - 30 min or so, to turn into a nice med/soft ice cream. This is the most amazing little machine. Love that it doesn’t require electricity, very few parts, easy to clean, easy to make. I store the canister in the freezer so it is always ready to go. So glad I purchased this.