Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker: Got Food Allergies? Make Your Own!

The first time my husband and I saw the Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker in action was at a dinner party with some friends, where they had made several custom batches of ice cream for the guests, depending on what they knew each guest liked. Of course, we ran right out to our local Wal-Mart to get our own, and it sat in our hall closet for well over a year.

Then, we discovered that our son, now three, had food allergies, and his sister was an an experimental diet. Neither of them could have regular ice cream, nor could I since I was nursing Buster. My husband decided to experiment making our own allergen-free ice cream, and since then, our Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker has had regular use.

::: No Salt? How Can It Work? :::

The Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker is a fully automatic electric ice cream maker. Not only is no salt involved, but no cranking is involved, since it does all its own mixing. The Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker comes with a special gel-filled canister (hence not needing salt and ice) that you place in your freezer for 12 hours before use. Once the canister has reached the proper temperature, you place the top on the canister (which is clear except for the motor housing), plug it in, press the button, and start adding ingredients. In about 25 to 40 minutes, your ice cream is done. The motor shuts off automatically when the ice cream is the right consistency (or the mixer can't move anymore).

Clean-up is a bit more of a pain, since the motor housing and gel canister have to be carefully hand-washed. We've been able to wash other pieces in the dishwasher, but there is a fair amount of clean-up involved.

::: Is This the Ice Cream Maker for You? :::

If you want to be making large batches of fantabulous home-made ice cream, skip right on over the Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker, because you aren't going to get more than a small batch of ice cream. However, for our needs, this is the perfect solution. We are usually making small batches for the kids, and they don't go through a whole lot of ice cream right now. It's the perfect size, and the fact that I can keep the canister in my deep freezer means that I can have the Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker ready to go at all times, whenever we know we are going to need some specialty ice cream for the kids.

The Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker isn't without a few problems, however. Because of the fact that the gel canister is what helps the ice cream freeze, you have to remember to have the beater moving BEFORE you add ingredients, or you'll get an instant freeze and lock the machine up before you even get started. In addition, the canister is constantly cooling as the ice cream is being made, which in our case, often means that we need some additional freezing time, because it takes a bit longer to make ice cream without milk fat. We never do get milk-free ice cream to the right consistency using the Rival GC8101 1-Quart Ice Cream Maker, but it does come close, and saves a lot of time.

As the kids get older, odds are we'll upgrade to a larger machine that doesn't have the gel canister, but for the moment, it's nice to be able to make small batches that don't go to waste.