Do you really have to freeze ice cream after you make it in your ice cream maker?

ice cream churns image

Tears and

If I just freeze the bowl, chill the mixture, and do everything else that the instructions of my ice cream maker tell me to do and churn the ice cream, can I just eat it when it's done churning instead of freezing it for eight hours first? Won't it be just like soft serve ice cream?

Answer
It will most likely be more liquid/milkier than soft serve ice cream, just after churning (at least that's how it has always been when I've made it),but if you like it that way, it certainly won't harm you to eat it without freezing it for 8 hours first!