Best Magimix Ice Cream Makers

I am an experienced home baker and have used the 'frozen bowl' method to make ice cream over the last few years. Results weren't too bad, but I found… Read more

this method messy and frustrating, having to be constantly watching the churning process to stop the mixer when it has finished to prevent damage to the paddle. So I began to research what machine I thought would give me the results I was after. I have to admit I tried looking for a cheaper machine or method before purchasing the Magimix Gelato Machine. I tried a couple of soft serve machines, where I was told you could make the ice cream and freeze it, but that was a fail. The result produced churned flavoured butter using an ice cream recipe. Using a soft serve recipe only produced soft serve ice cream which after freezing, produces a very poor quality ice cream. The dasher or paddle is designed differently to an ice cream machine and the program also runs at a different speed and temperature. It will not freeze sufficiently to the temperature needed for ice cream either. So, then I began researching the compressor type ice cream machines. There are a few different brands, so reviews and YouTube videos showing comparisons were quite helpful. Ultimately compressor ice cream machines give you the best results and among these the Magimix Gelato expert excelled and is considered the best - it is the most expensive as well, but the quality and advantages surpass all of the other compressor machines and I can confirm this. The ice cream produced is better than store bought. It is truly artisan quality. There are many reasons why I chose the Magimix Gelato Expert, here are a few. It is a high quality machine that will last for years. It will produce back to back batches of restaurant quality Gelato, Ice cream, Sorbet and Granita. The machine programs include a manual setting as well, if you want to be creative. There's a pre-freeze button to help cool the bowl to freeze temperature more quickly before you start the selected program. Ice cream and gelato take between 30 - 45 minutes to complete. Smaller batches obviously take less time. The bowl holds up to 2 litres but you need to consider how much expansion and volume your batch will produce. You can comfortably place a double batch of the Gelato recipe (from the Magimix cookbook) into the machine. Gelato is a lot denser. The ice cream recipe expands more and sorbet will expand further, so check first by making a single batch recipe. The Magimix Ice Cream cookbook that is included with the machine is a great start. Many more recipes online as well. Lots of healthy and low fat recipes too. The machine features two - 2 litre stainless steel bowls. It is suggested to use a small amount of alcohol between the fixed bowl and removable bowl to help conduct the freeze temperature between the bowls more effectively. A lot of reviews have suggested it works just as well without the alcohol, but I haven't tried this as yet. I have made back to back batches using only the removable bowl, washing the bowl in between before beginning the next batch. I think this is the easiest and most practical method. Once the chosen program has finished, the product is very easy to remove and transfer into a freezer container to serve at a later time or if you choose to leave it in the machine, at the end of the cycle the machine will switch automatically onto the maintain program, keeping the product at the ideal serving temperature for 2 hours. The programs are accurate with the machine detecting when it needs to stop, by sensing how thick and frozen it is before switching automatically into storage mode, so you don't need to stress if you are busy doing something else. To summarise the Magimix Gelato Expert produces high quality ice cream/gelato/sorbet/granita in a short amount of time with little supervision. It comes with two, 2 litre bowls. One fixed and one removable. Two paddles are supplied, a spatula and measure for the alcohol, along with the Gelato Expert Ice Creams cookbook. The machine is very stable on the bench throughout the program and noise level is relatively low. The machine is robust and has a quality construction being manufactured in Italy. Included is a 3 year warranty. The sales assistant told me in the many years she has worked there, she has never seen one of these machines returned. Despite the higher cost it is well worth the quality results it produces, ease of use and all the other reasons mentioned. I purchased the Gelato Expert during a sale, which occur a few times throughout the year. So if you want to produce healthy, restaurant quality desserts without all the artificial additives as seen in the commercial products from supermarkets, this is the machine for you. There's not a single negative that I can think of, to include in my review and my husband and family are all enjoying the resulting creations.