This ice cream maker from Cuisinart hits the perfect middle ground between basic and blowout, and it really is a great all-rounder. To whittle down our shortlist, we looked at how easy each machine was to use, how long a basic ice cream recipe took to make, including prep, chilling, and freezing time, and – ultimately – how good the ice cream tasted at the end.

The ChillFactor Ice Cream Maker is so easy to use - all you have to do is put it in the freezer, wait for it to freeze then add simple ingredients and squeeze!We love the fact that there’s no complicated setup – attaching the dasher is easy and there are no buttons or settings to get the hang of.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. There are automatic cycles for gelato, ice cream, and granita, as well as a manual function that gives you more control over getting the consistency you want.The basic vanilla bean ice cream recipe in the downloadable recipe book uses egg yolks cooked on the hob, but we found the quick-mix vanilla version – which doesn’t – to be just as tasty and much less faff. The coolness from the cup chills the contents as you do, and eventually creates an ice cream-style concoction – albeit a bit thinner and not entirely authentic-tasting.