Ice Cream

Explore six small batch ice cream makers that excel in capacity, freezing method and ease of cleaning for homemade frozen treats.

Explore the differences between ice cream containers and tubs, including materials, sealing, storage efficiency, and reuse to find what fits your kitchen.

Popsicle molds look interchangeable at a glance, but the differences that matter most to parents — how easily the popsicle actually comes out, whether the sticks stay put, and how well the pieces survive a dishwasher — aren’t visible in a product photo. Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through … Read more

An ice cream scoop seems like the last thing worth overthinking, until you’re wrestling with rock-hard ice cream and a cheap scoop bends in your hand or the handle snaps clean off. The differences between scoops are small in price but large in how well they actually hold up. Some links in this post are … Read more

Soft serve machines have a reputation for being either restaurant-grade and enormous, or cheap and disappointing. The newer generation of compact home soft serve machines sits in between, and whether one is worth it really depends on how often you’d actually use it. Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through … Read more

Ice cream makers span a wide price range, and it’s not always obvious what that gap actually buys. Having used both ends, the differences are real, but they matter more to some people than others. Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at … Read more

An ice cream sandwich maker sounds like a novelty gadget until you actually try assembling a clean, even sandwich by hand with a knife and a scoop — it’s messier and slower than it should be. The right tool turns a sticky 10-minute job into something you can do in under a minute per sandwich. … Read more

Most of the frustration people report with a new ice cream maker traces back to a mismatch between what they bought and how they actually planned to use it, not a defective machine. These are the mistakes that come up again and again. Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through … Read more

A fresh waffle cone, still warm and slightly crisp at the edges, genuinely changes how a scoop of ice cream tastes. But a waffle cone maker is also a single-purpose appliance that takes up counter space, so it’s worth asking whether it earns its spot before you buy one. Some links in this post are … Read more

If you’ve ever pulled a tub of homemade ice cream out of the freezer only to find a crust of ice crystals on top, the problem usually isn’t your recipe — it’s the container. Regular plastic tubs and reused yogurt containers let air in, and air is what turns creamy ice cream into a grainy, … Read more