When the light indicator on the handle turns from green to red, it indicates that the blade has reached the bottom of the cup and is finished churning your ice cream, sorbet, milkshake, or slushy. It took about a minute and a half for the button to turn red when I made ice cream and sorbet, and about 30 seconds when making the milkshake.
If you want to add in ingredients like chocolate chips or cookies, wait until the ice cream-making session is complete, untwist the half-pint cup from the mixing assembly, toss your add-ins into the cup, attach the cup to the mixer again, and select the “add-ins” preset before pressing the start button. This preset crushed Oreo cookies into my ice cream in a way that resembled store-bought cookies and cream. The machine emitted a low buzzing sound, but nothing like the loud “leafblower” racket our Ninja Creami reviewer reported experiencing when testing ice cream makers.
As with any new gadget, mistakes are inevitable. I tested the FastFreeze by making three desserts (actually, I let my kids choose): The winners were cookies and cream ice cream, strawberry banana sorbet, and dulce de leche milkshake, which I substituted with caramel syrup because I had a full bottle in the fridge.
Despite reading the instructions and knowing better, I pressed my luck by filling up one of the cups beyond the maximum line indicated. The mixing assembly would not attach to the cup because I had overfilled it, so I had to wait for it to thaw a bit, scoop enough of the frozen ingredients out to reach the maximum line, and try re-attaching it to the mixing assembly. The cup fit perfectly.
