If you're not making as many trips to the ice cream shop or store, but wish you were, remember– sorbetto and gelato can be made at home.
To kick-off summer, the Today show ranked 11 ice-cream appliances. Some give the best of both worlds, Italian gelato and American ice cream, in one machine. Since this dessert is made from scratch, you control the ingredients, and therefore, the healthiness of your batch.
From artisan to family-friendly, every option has a variety of features. The Cuisinart Soft Serve Ice Cream machine releases rich swirls of frozen cream and condiments directly onto the cup or cone. (We recommend combining gelato with this lemony peach recipe.) The brand also sells a gelato-only machine for purists.
The Chef’n Sweet Spot Ice Cream Maker is the simplest of all. This maker is sold as a kit, complete with spatulas and a recipe book.
And unlike the past, where you might have to churn the cream by hand, working up a sweat to enjoy the frozen prize at the end of the finish line, most machines are automated and crank out gelato in a mere 20 minutes! (With that saved time, try out an extravagant Pugliese recipe for baked gelato.)
But if you wish to preserve that element of old-school manual work, why not bring in an element of innovative play? The YayLabs Ice Cream Ball allows you to “toss your dessert to perfection,” by throwing around a ball full of ingredients for a good thirty-five minutes before cracking it open and eating the cold delight. It’s a fun way to tire out the kids before they hit a sugar rush.