You don’t need a compressor-driven machine that costs as much as a decent oven. Cuisinart’s Deluxe Ice Cream Maker (ICE30BCU) is the simpler kind: a freezer bowl that churns ice cream, sorbet, gelato or frozen yoghurt in as little as 25 minutes, with no ice or rock salt involved.
The design is about as basic as it gets, which is the appeal. You freeze the bowl, pour in your mix, switch it on and let the paddle do the work, adding nuts, chocolate chips or fruit while it churns. No digital screen, no presets to fiddle with. The bowl holds 2 litres, and Cuisinart lists a 5-year guarantee. The one planning step you can’t skip is freezing the bowl first. Cuisinart says to do it overnight, and keeping it in the freezer between uses means it’s always ready when the mood strikes.
The main limit with any freezer-bowl machine is that the mix swells as it churns. Don’t fill it to the brim, and hold back chunky mix-ins until the last few minutes so nothing spills over the top. If you want a second batch straight after the first, you’ll need a second bowl, because the first one has to go back in the freezer.
It’s a countertop appliance you’ll actually use rather than a gadget you try twice, and it’s rated 4.5 stars from over 19,000 reviews on Amazon UK. If homemade ice cream has been a someday project, this is a reasonable place to start.
