Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt
Old fashioned hand-crank ice cream makers might be a bit messier, but there’s a reason the pros love them. Both Malek and Hoogerhyde are fans of the KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment’s efficiency. “It’s great because it doesn’t take up much space and cuisinart griddler elite makes a darn good ice cream,” Hoogerhyde says. Ice cream makers range in capacity, or how much ice cream they can make per batch. When shopping for an ice cream maker, you’ll want to keep in mind how much ice cream you need or want to make at once.
Finally, once you’re done dishing up your soft-serve, this model is easy to clean with a removable drip tray. Just be warned that it is a bit on the heavy side at 15 pounds, so you’ll want to be careful when moving it around. Aside from its large capacity, customers rank this ice cream maker highly because it’s so easy to use and operates quickly. But hey, moving this ice cream maker around will get you some exercise before you enjoy your dessert. The other benefit of this model is that it has 12 specifically calibrated settings for different levels of softness. You won’t end up with rock hard sherbet or gelato or soft-serve when what you really want is a scoop of vanilla that will hold its own in a root beer float.
The instructions say it takes about 10 minutes of mixing to get soft-serve ice cream. For a harder consistency, they recommend freezing the ice cream for another minutes. Just like old-fashioned ice cream makers, this model uses ice to freeze the ice cream but churning is hands-free thanks to an electric motor. An affordable and fully automatic model produces up to 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream or frozen yogurt in 20 minutes or less.
So if you’re ready to get churning, here are our top picks for the best ice cream makers around. I recommend not using metal utensils to scrape the ice cream out of the mixing bowl. I noticed some light scratching on the bowl when I tried to use a metal spoon. A plastic kitchen scraper worked better for this task. The paddles and lid are top-shelf dishwasher safe, but I found they were easy enough to wash by hand. The mixing bowl also cleans up effortlessly with just a few swipes of a sponge and a little soapy water.
However, compared with its competition, this unit took the longest to fully churn the ice creams and sorbets, upwards of 70 minutes. The touchscreen panel is also not very sensitive; we had to press down hard to activate the buttons. The Ariete Ice Cream Maker by DeLonghi has a similar bowl, paddle, and lid design to the Cuisinart, our top compressor pick, and therefore performed very similarly. We ultimately went with the Cuisinart cuisinart griddler elite over this model because we prefer the simplicity of the control panel, smaller footprint, and lower price point of the Cuisinart. With our second test of American-style ice cream, we added chopped peanuts and caramel to the ice cream just before stopping the churning. The toppings were frozen ahead of time to prevent their addition from causing the ice cream to melt, which can lead to pockets of iciness and density.
Add cream, vanilla, and orange extract to milk mixture, and whisk till combined. Whisk together milk, sugar, and salt till all is dissolved. This is a fun confection the little ones especially enjoy. I use Whole Foods Organic Gummy Bears from their bulk food section. The flavors absolutely pop when you bite into a piece, making the ice cream a treasure hunt for the best bites. We use organic ingredients to avoid GMOs, to avoid hormones in our dairy products, and to protect the soil, water, and air, as well as the workers who plant, tend, and harvest the food we eat.
Because the motor is on top of the unit, it’s difficult to peer inside the canister in order to monitor the status of the ice cream churning. The opening for adding mix-ins is very small and located behind the motor, which makes it easy to spill sticky caramel and other mix-ins onto the motor. We worry that the combination of a detachable motor and an opening for mix-ins so close by could make this unit susceptible to breakage. This model automatically stops churning once the ice cream has reached your selected texture by sensing the level of resistance against the paddle as the ice cream freezes and thickens. Once the ice cream is ready, the unit alerts you with classic ice cream truck jingles. The churned ice cream can be held at the chosen texture for up to three hours, making it perfect for dinner parties and for soft-serve ice cream fans.
When the mixture is so thick that the machine turns off, the ice cream is ready to go into the freezer to finish firming up. All you need to do is stay nearby so you can see that it’s done or listen for the churning to stop, since it’s a little louder than the more expensive compressor-style ice cream makers. While most of our ice cream maker picks can dish up a decent soft-serve, this machine excels at it. Plus, it has a few bells and whistles that make hosting an ice cream social even more enjoyable. The soft-serve maker is fully automatic and can make 1 ½ quarts of ice cream, or about 10 to 12 servings at a time. The Whynter ice cream machine was the top pick for Wirecutter and performed well in our tests, producing smooth ice cream with texture comparable to that of our top picks.
Most ice cream makers are not dishwasher safe, so you’ll have to wash freezer bowls, paddles, and lids by hand in warm, soapy water with a mild detergent. Freezer bowls can not be put in the dishwasher because the high temperatures can damage the insulated seal and result in the cooling liquid leaking out. Just freeze the bowl , add your ingredients, and stir and scrape with the included spoon as the mixture begins to freeze along the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Our ice cream maker machines also feature multiple settings/speeds and timers that alert you when your icy dessert is finished. Search for more frozen treat ideas, like our popular Simple Vanilla Ice Cream, on our recipes page. Although we’ve been referring to them as “ice cream makers,” these machines can make a variety of frozen desserts, from ice cream and frozen yogurt to sorbet and sherbet. We decided to test a variety of bases in each of the machines to find the units that can consistently tackle them all. Even though the machines’ churning mechanism doesn’t change, these frozen desserts all have textures distinct from ice cream due to the different components in each base.