Magimix 'Le Glacier' 1.5 ice cream maker

We bought our first ice cream maker thirteen years ago, for ten pounds from the local thrift store. We were intrigued to know whether it would work. Ice cream in Cyprus is very expensive to buy, and I liked the idea of making my own inexpensive version, with the bonus of knowing exactly what was in it. 

Over the years, I tried various recipes, and experimented, and while inevitably some results were better than others, I don’t think we had any disasters. But I found that it was taking longer and longer for the ice cream to thicken, and I was less and less inclined to use it.

So when we saw a Magimix 1.5 litre ice cream machine on special offer at our local supermarket in the spring four years ago, it wasn’t a difficult decision to go ahead and buy it.  It cost us the equivalent of about £30 with the discount. I see that it’s still widely available: Amazon is currently selling it for just under £45, and Argos have the 1.1 litre version for just under £40. 

APPEARANCE

There are two main parts to our ice cream machine: the motor part, which has a cable attached, and the container in which the ice cream is made. The container, which has to be frozen before use, is plastic on the outside, metal on the inside, and clearly has some kind of fluid in it, since this sloshes around when it’s gently shaken at room temperature. 

There are also a few removable parts: the blade, the plastic top, and a small plastic piece that holds it all together. 

FREEZING THE CONTAINER

Unfortunately one can’t set to work to make ice cream immediately after purchasing this appliance. After giving it a good wash, the main container part has to be placed upright in the freezer for at least eight hours.  

Since our old ice cream churn worked the same way, I was expecting this, and quickly found a suitable sized space. I usually freeze it for rather longer than eight hours, so after buying it, we left it to freeze for the rest of the day and overnight. Indeed, unless I’m running out of room, I tend to keep the container in the freezer permanently nowadays, just in case I feel the urge to make ice cream. 

Important note: You do need a freezer with a fair amount of vertical room, such as in a chest freezer, or the freezer part of a fridge-freezer. If you have only an upright freezer with fixed size drawers, they may well not have room for the container that must be frozen before use. The Magimix ice cream container is about 18cm high, and a typical upright freezer drawer height is only about 15cm at most.  

PREPARING THE ICE CREAM MIXTURE

An ice cream maker isn’t like a breadmaker - you don’t just throw in ingredients and leave it to work. Recipes that come with the churn suggest using whipping cream (which must be whipped lightly before use), or a prepared egg custard using eggs, sugar and single cream, which must be made on the stovetop or in the microwave and then chilled in the fridge after cooling.  

I’ve used recipes like these, and the results have been amazingly good. Unfortunately they are loaded with calories and saturated fat, and since in my experience ice cream is usually wolfed down by children and teenagers, or eaten with hot puddings, I don’t think it’s worthwhile spending a lot of money and time creating luxury ice cream, other than for special occasions. 

So my ordinary, easiest ice cream is made using a 400g can of chilled evaporated milk (which can be low-fat), half a cup of sugar, and a few drops of vanilla essence.  

I try to remember to keep a can of evaporated milk in the fridge all the time, so that - should the urge strike - I can make ice cream at a moment’s notice. The evaporated milk must be whipped with an electric mixer until it’s very thick - this doesn’t take long so long as it has been well-chilled  - then the sugar and essence must be quickly whipped in.  

The vanilla essence can be replaced with a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder blended with some cold water to make a thick paste, or some pureed fruit can be added: strawberries in season are particularly good. An excellent variation uses soft brown sugar rather than white, and a couple of mashed bananas. 

USING THE CHURN

The frozen main container must be removed from the freezer, and the motor and blades attached. Assembling it is slightly fiddly - I’m somewhat challenged in three-dimensional thinking, and the instructions weren’t very helpful - but with the assistance of my family I managed it the first time, and have become more competent with use. 

Then it has to be plugged in and switched on, so that the blades start going around slowly, and keep going as the prepared mixture is slowly poured in through the hole in the top.  It’s important to keep the blades moving; if the mixture is poured in first, it will start to freeze against the sides and may make it impossible for the churn to work. 

ICE CREAM AT LAST

I find that the churning process typically takes about 15-20 minutes, but sometimes it’s a bit longer if the temperature in my kitchen is particularly warm. If I must make ice cream on a hot day, I sometimes put a couple of ice packs underneath it to ensure it stays cool. 

While it’s not necessary to keep watching while it works (although it’s fascinating to do so the first few times - the clear plastic lid allows the whole process to be seen) you do need to stay reasonably near, because the only way of knowing that it’s done is that the motor sound changes.  The instruction guide told me about this, and I was a bit worried the first couple of times - how would I know for sure when the change happened? What kind of change would it be?

It turned out that I need not have worried. The change happens when the ice cream mixture becomes too thick for the blades to turn properly, and the motor noise becomes more high-pitched, as if it’s straining (which it probably is).  So it’s important to switch it off at once. I usually check visually after about ten minutes; if it has a way to go, the mixture still looks like very thick cream, but when it’s turning into ice cream it looks more like the soft-scoop ice cream that used to be so popular from ice cream vans.  It’s fine to turn it off at this stage, particularly if you’re planning to freeze it.

The ice cream can be eaten at once, served directly from the container. But I prefer to make it in advance, transferring it all to a suitable sized container such as a previously used 1.5 litre ice cream tub. It can then be put in the freezer until needed.  Some recipes - such as the ones using egg custard, or any sorbets - then need to be thawed a little before serving, but my standard evaporated milk recipes remain soft-scoop and are usable straight from the freezer.

Home made ice cream doesn’t keep well as long as shop-bought equivalents which tend to be loaded with preservatives, but then we find that it rarely has a chance to linger in the freezer. Occasionally I’ve come across a nearly-empty container, which has usually iced up and slightly separated over the months, but usually it all gets eaten rather quickly. 

PROBLEMS

After just a few uses of this appliance, the on-off knob at the back came right off in my hands. I was concerned about this, but found that it was quite easy to push the little switch that was hidden inside it with a finger, and that set the churn going. Oddly, however, I have to re-attach the outer knob in order to release the blades after turning it off. It’s a niggle, but I’m so used to it now that I don’t worry about it. 

Other than that, we’ve had no problems at all in four years of regular (though not frequent) use. Some of my family members are dairy-free, so I’ve also experimented with fruit sorbets and have found that they work well, although they require more preparation and tend to need a lot of thawing to soften before use. 

RECOMMENDED?

Definitely. If you or your family eat ice cream, a churn like this saves money, particularly if you opt for the inexpensive recipes. It also allows you to know exactly what goes into your ice cream, so that you can avoid unpleasant additives. 

2022 UPDATE

About five years ago, my husband realised he needed to stop consuming dairy products, as did some of our local friends. So I had to stop making my standard recipe with evaporated milk. For a couple of years I didn't make ice cream at all.

But then I started experimenting with a range of sorbet-style ice creams, and also some using canned coconut milk. At first the results were not great, certainly not worth the extra effort, until I realised that the mixture must be very cold - thoroughly chilled - before adding to the machine. With previously chilled evaporated milk this was never a problem, but if I'm having to make a dairy-free custard, or anything else that isn't already refrigerated, it has to go in the fridge for several hours before I add it to the ice cream machine.

Some of the little plastic holding pieces have broken in recent years, meaning that the lid and mechanism are a bit wobbly, but it still works. For a ten-year-old appliance it's in good condition; I tend only to use it in the summer months, as it takes up considerable space in the freezer and we eat a lot less ice cream in the winter.

There are much more expensive ice cream makers on the market, but this one serves our purpose nicely, and I'll look for something similar to replace it when it eventually stops working.