S/o of favorite Ice Cream flavors

[mamaof4]

Do you make your own ice cream or Popsicles?

My kids love doing that!

[playfelt]

Have always made my own popsicles. Have looked at the various ice cream making machines and seriously thinking about getting one. Does anyone have opinions on what to get- what to avoid. I like the soft serve and someone on another group I was in said her machine makes the soft serve but if she leaves it too long it becomes like hard ice cream and she has to scoop. That sounds like the best of both worlds.

[mamaof4]

I have a Cuisinart one- I love it! if you like soft serve it takes about 20 minutes.

[playfelt]

I have a Cuisinart one- I love it! if you like soft serve it takes about 20 minutes.

So how does it taste - my last experience with ice cream someone had made in their fancy machaaine - mind you this was years ago when they were so expensive they were out of reach to most of us - was an icy tasting concoction that was worse than the cheapest from the store. Are there different sizes, models by the same company. I am really thinking this would be a nice way to go. In theory it should be better for us given it won't have the extra ingredients store bought does.

[Spixie33]

I have been seeing a lot of those plastic do-it-yourself popsicle containers where you can make your own popsicle, freeze it, and then serve it and it will have a stick attached.
I was wondering if anyone has ever taken organic yogurt and just frozen it into one of those popsicle things and how it turns out. Does it freeze well and does it become soft enough for the little toddlers to lick afterwards or will they be rock hard and get frustrated??

[playfelt]

I have several of the plastic ones you mention and used them a lot with my own kids back when making popsicles out of koolaid was the thing to do - dating myself here I know. Even cola and rootbeer ones. And yes any juice worked too. I found they melted just as fast or faster than the store bought kind so there definitely for the older kids and outside. Mostly I let the parents worry about this kind of mess. If I do anything at daycare it is the mr freeze type you cut off and push up. The yogurt should be fine but be sure to leave room for expansion. If it was too hard when taken out is should soften as it sits for a bit.

[mom-in-alberta]

I know that yogurt "tubes" aren't the best kind of yogurt, but they make a great treat when frozen!! Can be a little messy, but I haven't yet seen a freezie/ popsicle that isn't!
We tend to eat those things outside, so that I can just hose off the deck afterwards.
And yes, I have used those popsicle makers for everything from yogurt to apple juice to lemonade. Yummy. It's nice to have some control over what's going into them. With any kind, you want to leave a few millimeters of space for expansion. And yogurt works really well for layers, which looks cool too!