Cold Stone Creamery Instant Ice Cream Maker

This item rates 5 stars in EVERY way. All you have to do is follow the directions as written, but perhaps with the following tips:1. After you mix the ingredients, wipe the rubber "gasket"/seal clean of all liquid, sugar, mix, etc., before you put on the inner lid. Anything not removed keeps the lid and gasket from making 100% direct contact with each other for a proper seal.2. You only have to fill the bottom piece about half way with ice (& salt & water as directed). The inner bowl should be pushed down until the gasket around the top of it is about half way into the bottom shaker piece, evenly, all the way around. (You have no choice; the top section won't twist on properly until it does so...but it helps to know this.) It is not supposed to 'drop in' easily; it SHOULD be a snug fit. The point of it is to keep the ice & salt solution from getting into the internal cup during the shaking. The top twist-on piece is also a snug fit for the same reason...it locks the internal cup and lid in place so they won't move and/or open during the shaking. Be sure that it is evenly closed all the way around, and fully twisted into place. Even a TINY amount of salt in the ice cream will prevent it from freezing.3. Shake for the time recommended. Open the unit, and the internal cup. The mixture should be hard-frozen on the sides and bottom of the metal bowl, but still liquid & frothy in the middle. Use a spoon to chip off a section of the hard-frozen ice cream from the side of the bowl, and stir it into the liquid section. Quickly & carefully continue until all frozen and liquid ice cream has been mixed together. The coldness from the hard-frozen part(s) actually quick-freezes the liquid part as it is mixed, resulting in a one-scoop (1/2 cup) sized serving of PERFECTLY frozen ice cream.I use the following 3-ingredient recipe (ref: Ice Cream In A Bag):4 Tablespoons (1/2 cup) 2% milk (or use chocolate milk for chocolate ice cream)1 Tablespoon sugar1/2 teaspoon vanillaMix together, shake-freeze, and ENJOY!

The ingredients in the box said best used by 2012, so it's four years past the time, also don't know where to get the new refills.. Very Disappointed with this product.

I ordered this product on Amamazon thinking I was getting a newly sealed package. It came. The box was damaged and had been taped shut and the ice cream packets inside expired a year ago!!!

I bought this for my 4 year old daughter for Christmas after seeing the bad reviews for the Dairy Queen Blizzard Maker. She really wanted some kind of ice cream maker for a present. The actual taste of the ice cream wasn't bad, but you need to use whole milk or half and half. It states that in the directions, but I was hoping to make it with skim since that is what we buy. Other reviews said that you had to shake it for longer than 4 min and that is absolutely true. We ended up passing it around to all of the adults to shake it as our arms got tired. All in all, we shook it for 14 min. We have made all 3 of the ice cream packets that came with the product and I am really doubting that we will buy more.

Purchased this item as a gift for my niece. She said she wanted the DQ Blizzard machine, but this Cold Stone one seemed to be a better choice. I liked it because you could use ingredients from your home to make the desserts and it didn't use generic pop rocks for flavor and color like the Blizzard one.

We got this for one of our Son's for Christmas and he Loves it. He made ice cream for everyone Christmas morning. The stuff it comes with tastes ok but when he did it again we had him use Chocolate syrup and it tasted really good. I have read people saying it doesn't make a lot but what do they expect yes it doesn't make a ton but it is still fun for them to do. He is 8 years old and this is something that he is able to do buy himself. I doesn't come out like hard ice cream it is more of a frozen yogurt texture cold and soft but still tastes good. We also use Strawberry syrup to make strawberry ice-cream.

This toy was the worst thing my daughter has ever had. This is the first review I have ever posted but because it was so bad I wanted to warn other parents. The instructions tell you to fill the cup half to three quarters full with ice. Then it goes on to list several other ingredients that need to be added. Well by the time you get to the end there is no room for the last ingredient. Then you have to shake it, hard, for 4 minutes. This is impossible for the little kids so I went ahead and did the shaking. I opened it and it was still half ice and pretty much a liquid drink. My daughter wanted to try it anyway and after one bite she was done. Don't waste your money on this!

this definately needs adult super vision. the directions are easy to follow but the ingrediants leave a little to the taste buds. it does take some hand and arm strength to get it all mixed up, so be prepared to work alittle with this toy. overall it was fun making powder into ice cream for my kids