Panasonic BH-941P Ice Cream Maker

• Battery-operated ice cream maker for use in the freezer
• Cordless for easy use; includes step-by-step instructions and recipes
• Dual-fin paddle for thorough and continuous mixing
• Makes 1.5 pints (about 3 cups) of ice cream or sorbet
• Measures 5-1/4 inches high and 6-1/2 inches in diameter

Amazon.com Review:
Tidy, cordless, and easy to put into action, this Panasonic ice cream maker is a refreshing alternative to its hulking all-in-one countertop cousins. Though it requires more steps than the models where you throw in ingredients and go, this little maker is both smart and efficient, making up to 3 cups of ice cream or sorbet in a few hours. Combining a stainless steel bowl and a battery-powered mixing unit, the appliance features a dual-fin stirring spatula to thoroughly mix ingredients during freezing. A microprocessor gauges the consistency of the dessert as it hardens, so no monitoring is necessary. The battery pack is compact and removable, and the other components feel sturdy and well designed. Included with the ice cream maker is a clear step-by-step instruction guide and a colorful booklet of recipes to get you started. Most of these require mixing or beating of ingredients before placement in the freezer bowl, but the labor is far from intensive. Once ingredients are ready, simply turn on the power, put the bowl in the freezer, and come back in 3 to 5 hours. Impressively compact for easy storage, the ice cream maker measures just 5-1/4 inches high and 6-1/2 inches in diameter. Panasonic includes a one-year warranty. --Emily Bedard

A Great Appliance:
This is a serious kitchen appliance that lets you make ice cream at home exactly to your taste. If you start with the basic provided recipie you can later adjust the mixture to suit your specific taste. I found the basic vanilla recipie much too sweet and have cut the sugar in half to make a better product. Egg yolks are recommended but they make the ice cream too heavy and rich. Raw egg yolks are not safe and must be pre-cooked to a custard like texture. A smalll pinch of clear gelatine can safely replace the egg yolks with no need for heating and no loss of smooth texture. The unit is small and will only make just over a pint. If you want to host a big desert, you may have to batch a few containers. Thus you can try several flavors. You should prepare the ice crem at least a day before to let it harden in a covered container in the freezer serving dish. The battery will only last for perhaps 20 batches but you can buy a charger and special rechargeable batteries to get up to 1,000 charges. Heavy cream prices used to be very high however I find that if you buy by the quart, heavy cream costs can compete with factory made ice cream, and if you do it right, can give you a lot more options and a better product. One more tip. The stainless steel base is marked with a top level maximum fill line. Experiment all you want, but you should never fill the tub above this line if yoou want the machine to work properly.

Is it just me???:
I bought this ice cream maker for its convenient size after reading some of the mostly good reviews here on Amazon.com. I've made 2 batches of ice cream so far - the second batch is a lot better than the first one - but it tasted more like sorbet than ice cream. I am a raw foodist. I of course used the recipe from one of my raw recipe books. I suspect that my failure was due to the lack of dairy products ( milk, eggs, whipping cream, etc.) in the mix? I also feel that this machine doesn't stir frequently enough. Isn't it true that the more it churns, the more air it gets in the ice cream and the smoother the ice cream becomes?

Absolutely Amazing Ice Cream:
For those of you out there that are lactoce intolerant...You HAVE to get this amazing machine!. My basic recipe for this machine is: 1 cup Non-dairy coffee creamer (Coffee Mate liquid - any flavor you like) 1/2 Cup sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup non-dairy whipped topping 1 pint strawberries, peaches, etc. blended smooth Just mix it all together, put in ice cream machine and let it go for 5 hours! The creamiest, best lactose free ice cream I have ever eaten! I have also made butter pecan (Coffee Mate Butter Pecan flavor) with Bakers toffee bits in it (I just increased the amount of Coffee Mate by 1/2 cup to keep it from getting to much like pudding). I tried the basic recipe that came with the machine and did not have good luck with it; maybe it's because I did not use real milk with the eggs, so I found another recipe that I could used the Cofee Mate non-dairy liquid creamer in.....it's awesome using the recipe I have listed above. This is the one of the best purchases I have ever made; machine performs as advertised and even better than advertised. Easy to clean, a no-brainer to operate and now I can eat ice cream with everyone else and not have to suffer with my severe lactose interolerance.

even my wife loves it:
Originally this was an impulse buy which got me a "what did you buy now" look from my wife (who usually abhors anything that even vaguely resembles a "gadget"). Although she may try to claim otherwise, I think I actually won that debate when she first tasted the ice cream we made. If you've never had fresh ice cream, it is a treat to behold. WIthout any of the artificial preservatives and sugars that are added to commercial ice cream, you can really taste the full flavor and texture of the fruit. Compared to commercial ice cream, it's lighter, has a much fuller and richer taste, and is much healthier. My only regret is that it's not big enough, so buy two. :-)

Good idea, bad results:
This ice cream maker attempts to solve one of the problems of low-cost ice cream makers, which either use a freezable bowl or ice and rock salt: the need to plan ahead. It sounds like a wonderful idea to be able to pop the whole unit it the freezer and magically get out ice cream, but the way that good, smooth ice cream is made is to freeze the mixture _fast_. Having ice or a bowl with frozen gel allows heat to quickly conduct out of the ice cream mixture, discouraging the formation of large ice crystals and creating a smooth result. This unit, however, relies on the cold freezer air to freeze the ice cream over hours. The result is a grainy mess. High-fat mixtures do a little bit better (the formation of ice crystals is limited by all of the milkfat), but forget ice milk, frozen yogurts, or frozen fruit desserts. The result, quite literally, will not be much different than if you just placed a bowl in the freezer.