Customer Reviews

Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker,Pint,Green

5 star:		(143)
4 star:		(90)
3 star:		(36)
2 star:		(28)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

I'm not unreasonable, but I'm apparently the only one who thought this ice cream ball was crummy. I bought it for my three young children and I to make ice cream, and found it to be a pain. First, the capacity is only 2 cups, which is not a lot. Second, ice cubes from a standard ice cube tray are too large to fit into the opening for the ice and salt. You either have to have a crushed ice ice maker, purchase comercial ice or spend 15 minutes crushing the ice with a meat tenderizer mallet, like I did. I hoped that 5 ice trays of ice would be enough ice, but you need at least twice that much to keep the ball filled for the time required.

The instructions for the ball say that after ten minutes of mixing, to stir the ice cream. Sounds easy, but after you pry the lid off (with a special wrench they include with the ball so the ice cream mix can splatter everywhere) you have less than a 3 inch diameter to stir ice cream which is liquid on the inside core and frozen solid on the metal wall of the chamber six or seven inches deep. But wait, don't use anything metal to chip the rock hard stuff into the liqid stuff! I tried a silicon spatulta, a wooden spoon, and eventually took the silicone head off the first spatula and scraped the sides with the wooden handle wedge. (My neighbor and I both tried making ice cream and stiring every 5 minutes instead, didn't help to hard ice cream mixing very much.)

Of course, you get ice cream dripping down the sides, but the ball has little raised decorative ledges that catch the drips and funnel them into tight angled crevices that you need to use a mashed up paper towel corner, or a sharp knife tip with a dishcloth stretched over it to get out so you don't end up rolling sticky ice cream batter into what ever surface you are playing with the ball on. There are mini chocolate chips stuck in some of those grooves I haven't been able to get out after multiple washings, as well.

If you get this far, the end result is not very creamy or very smooth. We tried rolling, shaking, tossing, in many different combos and still couldn't get smooth textured ice cream. The recipes enclosed that I tried tasted cheap and not like any ice cream I'd pay for twice. I tried my own recipes, but the inability to mix adequately through the small opening into the deep canister made for hard crystal type lumps.

Overall, it may be a fun novelty for children, but it is a pain in the rump to use. You can do the same thing for a lot less with the same 2 cup capacity with a gallon and quart ziplock bag and just squishing it. I wish we had put the thirty bucks towards a hand crank or electric freezer, instead.

I received the Ice Cream Ball (in Green) for Mother's Day after I mentioned it would be fun to have when I saw it on the Food Network. Even though it does not make a large amount of ice cream, it makes enough to satisfy one's cravings without going to all the trouble of a normal ice cream maker. You put ice and rock salt in one end and the ice cream mix in the other. I made vanilla the first time. Then my family and I went outside and rolled the ball, tossed it short distances to one another (it is much too heavy with all the ice to throw far,) and generally shook the heck out of it. I did have to drain the melted ice once and refill with more ice and rock salt. After 20-25 minutes I opened the ice cream container and ice cream had been made. It was a little soupy in the middle, but I had to scrape the sides to get the solid portion out. If I would have "played" with the ball a little more all of the mix would have been solid. This method of making home-made ice cream definately would not work for a large number of people or a b-day party. But it works to satisfy a craving for 1-3 people. I guess you could say that you burned enough calories making the ice cream, that you should not feel guilty eating it!!

I got this for Christmas, and finally got around to using it this summer. It's a great idea (one of the 2 stars), and on the box it looks very easy to just kick or toss around and make ice cream! However, it is HEAVY once it is loaded with ice, salt, and cream ingredients. If you tried to kick it, you'd break a toe. It's quite a workout to toss around, which can be a good thing, so there's the other star.

However, after a half hour of hard work, we ended up with some soupy sweet cream in the middle of the container (softer than a milkshake) and some rock-hard ice sort-of-cream around the edges. It was difficult to get the hard parts off the edges of the container, and even though anything with that much fat and sugar has to taste good, the texture left a lot to be desired.

No stars for the actual ice cream part of this ice cream maker. Get a nerf ball instead if you want something to throw around, and buy some "slow churned" ice cream that's healthier and tastes much better.

Rube Goldberg device (as stated in a snarky review below)? Give me a break. Heads up, food snobs: This isn't a Kitchen Aid. In case the pictures didn't clue you in.

It makes a quart of ice cream. Good for portion control and satisfying cravings. And rolling the ball around with the wife made for a good little workout. Sort of like a medicine ball, but with this one you eat back the calories you've burned.

And its fun to chase the dogs through the house with is ball of rolling noise!

Not for a family of 40. Not for the National Ice Cream Eating Contest.

Tip: Like with anything, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

It says roll the ball for 10 minutes, stop and scrape the sides. It is pretty amazing how thick the sides became on our first try (and considering that it was over 100 degrees outside testament to the cooling feature).

Scraping the sides keeps the ice cream from being overly "soupy" as complained about below. During the remaining 5-10 (we only went 5 as we were hungry) minutes of rolling.

Then PRESTO! Good soft-serve quality ice cream. Not Ben and Jerry's. Not Italian Gelato. Good soft ice cream that was made in 10 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of work out.

Don't use anything bigger than mini chips as they tend to suffer from centripetal forces and don't evenly spread through the ice cream.

Are there better ice cream makers? Yes. Is this one fun and worth the money/effort? Certainly. Maybe there is a Rube Goldberg quality to it. But that gives it the charm.

I liked the ice cream ball. It makes delicious vanilla ice cream with little work. Myself and my children shook and rolled it for about 8 minutes and them we just let it sit for a while to stay cold in the refrigerator. I then took it out, shook it some more, stirred it with a small wooden spoon and served it up (this worked for us). It was very good with half and half, but would probably be more creamy with cream. There are two things I would change about it: the company should include some kind of scooping device that will easily scrape the frozen ice cream off the sides without ruining the barrel, also I would make the opening for the ice a little bigger to accommodate regular size ice cubes. Crushed ice works the best, but you may have to buy it. Overall, we enjoyed this item and it was pretty easy to use and clean up. It makes 1 pint of ice cream which was well enough for three children or a couple adults. If it had a scooper and a wider opening for the ice I would have given it a 5 stars.

I brought a Play and Freeze to a party and it was a big hit with everyone. The older girls, ages 5 and 3, in particular enjoyed rolling the ball back and forth across a rug in the kitchen. Grownups took turns shaking the ball and throwing it back and forth. The bigger kids seemed pleased to be strong enough to shake it and be involved in the process.

We made vanilla ice cream, following the recipe that came in the box, and after 20 minutes or so of rolling and tossing the result was great, tasty and creamy. We were all excited.

A pint of ice cream was enough for five adults and several children, as we had it along with other desserts that the families had brought.

The process was a big part of the fun. The kids were so engaged in the idea of making ice cream, and they came up with games as they rolled the ball to each other. So this was a group activity as well as a taste treat. I'd recommend it highly to families and friends.

I thought the original Play & Freeze was pretty cool but when I saw there was a new one, I had to get one. It's just a bit larger (like a basketball), but it makes twice the ice cream and we have alot of kids to please!. Takes about 10 minutes more than the original but it makes great Ice Cream.

We've tried different flavors and they are great....when you add dry ingredients, like chocloate chips or fruit, its best to wait until you mix the ice cream after 15 minutes as they won't settle to the bottom. This thing rocks!!!

Well, I saw a demonstration of the Play and Freeze and just had to buy one. I was a little concerned, thinking it would find its way into my ever-so-tiny pantry and never get used. Boy was I wrong. When my friend and her daughter visit, the first thing the daughter asks is if we can make some ice cream. It is very easy to make up the basic ice cream, and at that point, you are only limited by your imagination as to what flavor you make. Our favorite so far has been made with shredded coconut! Yum. After putting the cream in the cylinder, it is simply a matter of filling the ball with ice and rock salt, then let the fun begin. We have mostly rolled the ball back and forth, so as not to accidentally drop it. We have played games while rolling the ball back and forth and just had a great time interacting. After one check at about 10 minutes, you scrape the cylinder and add more ice, then just a few more minutes and you have the best ice cream ever. I love this product for not only the ice cream, but for the old-fashioned human interaction outlet it provides, without electronics!

i don't usually get excited about products...but the play and freeze really puts even more fun into ice cream, and i thought that would be hard.

thirty-five minutes of fun, rolling, light tossing, and shaking the ball produces amazingly heavenly ice cream. me and a couple of friends made insanely good strawberry ice cream in a field in Marysville as we picked the strawberries and rolled the ball along with us.

half the people who saw it wanted to know what it was, but everyone who sampled the devilishly simple concoction of sugar, fresh Washington strawberries, cream, and a dash of mint extract wanted to know where to get one. in short, a fun device that makes ice cream that bests anything my stupid hand-crank machine could ever make. even on a half-milk half-cream mix, it produces lovely, hard but just airy enough ice cream. i'm taking it to Georgia in August when i go on vacation. i can't wait to throw it around a peach orchard!

I got this so I could make ice cream with my grandkids. First let me say that I used the recipe that it came with and made the chocolate chip one. It turned out fabulous. My grandchildren loved it and one said that she had never had any ice cream this good ever...even store bought. She is 11 years old!

My grand children ranged in age from 11 to 2 1/2. The 2 1/2 was not at all interested in doing it (but did like eating it). The ll, 8 and 6 year olds did like doing it, though the 6 year old stopped for awhile. They made up games as time went on. They would sing songs while doing it. I turned on a cable music channel and would mute it as they played "musical ball" with it. The last thing they did was whoever the ball would be rolled to, would add a word to a sentence. They made up a story as they went.

All this being said, the thing that I did not like the most was that the ice cream really stuck to the sides and made scrapping down almost impossible without carefully using a kitchen table knife (which it says not to). Having some arthritis in my thumbs did not help the matter. It was a bit messy too.

Also be sure to check the top, periodically, to be sure it's still tight as it seemed to loosen as the ice cream cooled and started to leak a bit. I used 3 cups of heavy cream and 1 cup milk and it took 45 minutes to make, plus the break in between to scrape down, and add more ice* and salt. It got to be a long time for the kids and ended just about the right time for the older ones as they were tiring of it too.

*Ice...have plenty or buy a bag of ice. I have an electric ice maker and started with a full container of ice and it nearly wiped out all my ice. It took 3 days to get back to a full bucket again (with using ice normally each day).

I was surprised how it fed all the kids (5 & me) and there was still a cereal bowl left over for their parents to try. I am a big ice cream eater, but was satisfied with less...I think it's due to being so much richer then store bought, so I didn't want/need as much to satisfy my "ice cream" tooth!