Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

This event was on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

What are your thoughts on Creami machines? I may get one.

— Maria Allen

Answer:

So for those of you who don't know what a creamy machine is, a creamy machine is a, uh, single use, um, uh, kitchen, small kitchen appliance that you mix things up to make an ice cream, and then you put a pint in your freezer overnight. And then when you take it out of the freezer, you stick it in this machine and it creates something to the, something like the texture of a, of a blizzard if you've ever, if you used to go to a place like Dairy Queen or whatever. So my thoughts about them are I have had, uh, desserts from Creamy, and they really are delicious. One of the questions that I'm asking myself now is, do I need it or do I want it? So I certainly don't need a machine because I have, um, a Vitamix and I have a Yoanna, which I'll show you in a second. Um, they can range up to almost $300. So a couple of months ago I was, I really wanted a creamy machine because I wanted to make creamy ice cream. And, um, a friend of mine was willing to sell me hers used for a hundred dollars. She had used it once. And, um, my husband, my wises husband, said to me, I don't think you really have room for anything else in this kitchen. And he was right. So if you want to treat yourself to a premium machine, I say absolutely, treat yourself. I'm going to show you this is a 15-year-old machine. And, uh, this will extrude frozen fruit and it makes it sort of like a almost carve like texture. Um, a lot of people will use bananas, that's why it's called Yo Bananas. But I use bananas. I use frozen baked sweet potatoes, which render a beautiful, beautiful creaminess. I will use frozen fruit that is lightly, lightly thawed and add, um, strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, et cetera, et cetera. It makes a wonderful, wonderful dessert. It's very easy to clean. And the machine is 39 99. And I've had this thing for 15 years, and I think I've taken it just about to every single class I have ever taught in my life because desserts are really, really difficult for some people to, um, change because they've been used to prepackaged goods or cakes or whatever. And when you look at a pint of ice cream that might have 800 to a thousand calories, not, not to mention fat and sugar and other things, this is a wonderful, wonderful alternative. They used to sell them at Wegmans, for those of you who, um, live in this part of the country. But I haven't seen one at Wegman's, um, lately. So, um, it's up to you. And if you do get the machine, I wanna see pictures of your beautiful desserts. 'cause I've seen people make, you know, ice cream pies and all kinds of wonderful things. So good luck to you on that. It sounds like a, uh, a fun, fun thing to have.

Links:

Char Nolan

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

@char_nolan