Sage - The Smart Scoop - Self-Cooling Ice Cream Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel

The media could not be loaded. I’ve had my Sage Smart Scoop for almost a month now and have made a mint and dark chocolate ice cream, a dark cherry ice cream, a strawberry and cookie ice cream a few vanilla ice creams, plus one tropical fruits frozen yoghurt ice cream. All have been made easily, though the ice cream bucket of the Sage smart scoop isn’t dishwasher safe, but a quick wash up at the sink doesn’t take long. What do I think now I’ve had it a while? I like it, but making excellent ice cream is only ever as good as the ingredients you put in, not the machines ability to freeze and churn. It won’t come out like solid shop bought ice cream, or you’d never get it out of its bucket. It’s the consistency of ‘Mr Whippy’ ice cream when it’s done, which is fine to eat immediately or freeze in a litre ice cream tub (I have kept my shop bought ice cream tubs as they dishwasher clean up fine). Don’t ever use a box that’s had anything strong flavoured in like onions or spices though as ice cream will pick up the smell and flavour.What I was disappointed with was the lack of recipes in the box, in fact the lack of Heston Blumenthal anywhere in the instructions. Has Heston parted company with Breville’s Sage brand? However, nip off to Lakeland’s website and look up the info on Sage’s Smart Scoop Ice Cream Maker and you’ll find the original Heston’s recipes to download and print, but buy your ice cream maker from Amazon as they’re cheaper. I recommend the quick vanilla ice cream recipe using a can of condensed milk, with milk and whipping cream and plenty of vanilla extract for the perfect vanilla ice cream that’s dead easy to make, omit the vanilla and use it as a basis to many other flavours too like chocolate, strawberry, coffee, mint chip choc or whatever you fancy. You can mix in the ingredients before or add ‘add ins’ whilst the ice cream is churning it will let you know when to add things, like chocolate chips or fruit. I’ve found using frozen fruit from the supermarket works great in ice cream, as do cookies, mini marshmallows and fudge. Caramel and vanilla is heavenly too. I have yet to try a gelato or sorbet, but I will soon. It’s a worthwhile purchase for the quality of churned ice cream you can make with it, without the hassle of having to pre freeze a bowl in an ice cream maker without a compressor. I recommend putting the pre cool button on first, the machine then let’s you know when it’s ready for the ice cream mixture then simply press the start button. I haven’t tried the keep cool button as I tend to take the ice out and put it into a tub in the freezer. I have learnt that more vanilla extract or a drop of vodka to the mixture helps it freezing up rock hard, making it easier to scoop out once frozen in the freezer. I’ve had one experience of a crunching noise whilst it churned, but I think that was adding sticky ingredients like syrup which I think made it difficult for the blade to turn, I didn’t experience it the next ice cream I made. Stick to adding syrups after it has churned in the tub before freezing. Add sugar to the mixture and blend before churning. The times vary not just on type of ice cream but on the temperature outside the machine will affect it I’ve noticed. Hot days it takes longer. The most is 52 minutes plus pre freezing, so plan ahead if you want it after dinner. The ice cream van bell at the end is fun and makes all big kids smile, including me. Enjoy experimenting with your flavours and venture forward with making ‘proper’ ice cream making an egg ‘custard’ as a basis, I have tried ready made fresh custard from the supermarket, it doesn’t work well just frozen on its own. Stick with the condensed milk version to begin with until you feel more confident.I hope my review has been helpful, I know I rely on reviews too to make my mind up when purchasing on Amazon.

Thought for ages whether to go for this one or one of the cheaper ice cream makers. In the end decided to go for Heston's version and am so glad I did. I've made vanilla ice cream (quick version using just cream, condensed milk, milk and vanilla essence - no pre cooking, just pop it all in and off it goes). The vanilla ice cream took about an hour to make, but it was one of the hottest days so I would think slightly quicker on a cooler day.I've also made some 'skinny' strawberry ice cream - creme fraiche, strawberries and a couple of spoons of half spoon sugar. Again worked perfectly.Watermelon sorbet - just using watermelon and nothing else. This one turned more into watermelon granita than a sorbet but that might be because I was impatient for it to be done.The pre cool function is really good, as is the auto function and being able to just tell the machine whether you want sorbet, frozen yogurt, ice cream and the level of hardness you want and then off it goes.Has a really nifty keep cool function - most ice cream makers you have to take the finished article out as soon as its done otherwise it will melt - with this one it keeps it at the chosen setting for up to three hours.And it plays an old fashioned ice cream van tune when its finishedI ordered on prime and had next day delivery - however, the box was delivered upside down. As it was a heavy box I couldn't see that the delivery driver would have turned it over when taking out of the van (why would he?), so I assumed that it was transported upside down too. Having read about this happening to someone else on the reviews I was aware that this could cause damage. I pointed out the fact that it was upside down to the delivery driver, and his reaction was to turn the box over (as if that would solve the problem!!). It clearly said on the box that it had to be kept the right way up. So I rejected the delivery as it would be a bit like receiving a freezer upside down and not knowing what damage had been done.I used the Amazon call back process to find out if I needed to reorder and they were really helpful. Original delivery was about 4.30 in the afternoon, they immediately reordered another for next day delivery and that one was sent by DPD. Was delivered around lunch time, the right way up. And I had checked that it wasn't the same one recycled for me as I took note of the item number on the original delivery item!You have to wait for 12 hours from removing from the box to use to allow the freezer compressor (or whatever its called) to settle, so the next day I was up and running with making ice cream.One previous review mentioned that the central pole in the bowl can't be removed. This is correct but I can't see that this will cause any issues as it is easy to remove all the ice cream from the pole once you have taken the mixing blade out so I don't see this as a problem.Best ice cream ever, and you know exactly what is in it.

The media could not be loaded. The ice cream maker is ok. It's very expensive but looks good on the counter. Lots of fun for children. Unfortunately, the sage motor starts making a horrific noise as the ice cream gets harder and it struggles to churn it. It never reaches the end of a cycle because it stops churning before it gets there. I haven't been able to get through to Sage customer support. This also seams like a common problem online. At the moment it looks like we have wasted £100's of pounds on this thing. I think there are better options for ice cream makers in all honesty.Sage customer service is really poor and they've ignored me so a bad experience all round

Cant give it five stars, due to lack of instruction manual. I've never bought a gadget before that has NO instructions or guides before, so unless you already are well acquainted with the workings of fully automatic ice cream machines (which I am not) then you're a bit stuck. Even a trawl through youtube only returned videos of people extolling the virtues of the machine and how fantastic it is, but no clue as to ingredients, quantities, order of addition etc.I had to purchase a book, and hope I was doing it right. The couple of times I have used it the ice cream has turned out very nice, My granddaughter was disappointed not to have the ice cream van chime playing when it finished - still not managed to work out how to get this to sound!I'm sure this will be a machine that is used a lot once we're used to it. But I still think a basic instruction manual wouldn't go amiss