Chill Factor slushy and ice cream makers (by invitation), by Bureaucrat

Recently, I was invited by Chill Factor to try out its slushy and ice-cream makers.  For those who went to the 2014 Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show, you would have seen Chill Factor’s stall displaying these products.

To trial the slushy and ice-cream makers, I got two big kids, Mr P and Mr G, to help me out.  We were keen to see for ourselves whether we can make slushies and soft-serve ice-cream in minutes at work.  Having disassembled and washed the makers, I put the squidgy canisters in the freezer over night.

The next day, we purchased our ingredients and reassembled the makers.  For the slushy, we went for the simple option of making a cola slushy.  And it was simple!  We poured the chilled cola into the maker and squeezed the squidgy canister.


Within a minute or two, the drink was becoming icy!  In less than five minutes, we had a slushy – quite impressive.  The slushy was properly icy in texture and temperature.


For the ice-cream, we followed the cookies and cream recipe that’s included in the box.  We poured 100mls of cream, added five crushed Oreo cookies and a teaspoon of sugar.  This took one or two minutes more to make, but in about five minutes we got ice cream!  Unlike the slushy maker, we had to shake the canister first before squeezing it.


I was really surprised that the texture was quite like actual ice cream – it was fairly solid, yet smooth, and we needed a spoon to eat it.  The texture was more like ice cream than soft serve ice cream.  The only con was the use of cream in the recipe – it was too rich for us to use pure cream.  Next time, we would use a mix of cream and milk, or even just yoghurt.

While us big kids had fun, we wanted to see if actual kids would enjoy the slushy and ice cream makers.  So Mr P took them home to his three kids (all are under eight years old).  Mr P reported that they all really enjoyed making the cold treats and eating them.  In particular, the kids like how they could do everything themselves and didn’t need an adult to help out with any aspect of it.  They used cordial to make slushies in both the slushy and ice cream makers.

Overall
The slushy and ice cream makers are fun treat for children (or the child in you).  It’s fun and simple to use, and I like fact that it is as simple as freezing, squeezing and enjoying.  For me, I like the fact that you can control what ingredients you add into the makers – so you can make them as healthy or decadent as you like!

You can buy the Chill Factor slushy and ice cream makers from shops or online www.thechillfactor.com.au.