Ice cream maker, you say?

It's the summer, it's really bloody hot, my thought process wasn't complicated - I want something that will deliver more cold tasty stuff to my face as quickly and cheaply as possible. A perfect plan had hatched in my mind.

Ice cream makers exist. You can buy them. They make ice cream. I bought the Ninja Creami Swirl.

It turns out despite the excellent marketing, the Ninja Creami Swirl isn't an ice cream maker at all. If you buy one of these things, it doesn't do the hard work for you. In fact, there's no doubt about it, the ice cream maker is you. That's not to say this thing is bad. It's really not. In fact if you make some ice cream yourself a machine like this is still quite important to get the ice cream to an edible consistency. It's just important that you don't go into this thinking you chuck a bunch of ingredients in the back and 20 minutes later ice cream comes pouring out. This thing has a 24 hour lead time.

So what's it actually doing?

Simple really, it's taking that lovely home made ice cream and beating it until it's the right consistency to either scoop or Mr Whippy style soft serve. If you've gone for the soft serve option, then the machine also dispenses that, with quite a satisfying and tactile lever to pull.

But stirring and dispensing, those are its only tricks. There is no cooling/freezing within the device, nor press and go ice cream creation you'd expect from something sold as an ice cream maker.

Am I being harsh?

Maybe... maybe not. I think it's really just so important that you know what you're getting yourself into if you buy one of these things.

It's a commitment. You buy the ingredients, you spend a good chunk of time putting them all together and then you wait... for a whole day.

Once you've got your tub of ice cream, that genuinely is when the magic happens. Seeing the machine slowly squirt out that chocolate whippy ice cream into a cone or pot feels special. It's not a cheap way of accessing the experience of running an ice cream van, but it is probably the only way you'll ever get to do it.

What else should I know?

You get two tubs which, because of the fancy mechanism to do the soft serve feature, are not interchangeable with the rest of the Ninja Creami range. They aren't massive either, so if you want ice cream more than once every couple of days, or have more than 4 in your family, you'll probably need to shell out £25 or so on an extra couple of tubs.

You can make ice cream with chunks in it, like freeze dried fruit, or chocolate chips. However, these are not compatible with the soft serve function, so if you make something like that, it'll be scoop only.

There is a technique to it. Like all things, expect your first few tries with the soft serve to be of variable quality!

The ice cream you make will probably beat almost anything you can buy! Yes, you have to make it by hand, but that shop bought ice cream probably has barely any actual dairy in it. But it will have emulsifiers gums and all sorts of other things to keep costs down and the product as consistent as possible. However, if you follow the (genuinely good) recipes in the guide provided, your ice creams sorbets and frozen yoghurts will be fresh, tasty and satisfying.

Verdict

When you think about that breadmaker you bought, used for 6 months and then put in the back of the corner cupboard; the Creami is probably more involved to use and is perhaps less rewarding. Perhaps the only thing that will save your Ninja ice cream maker from the same fate is the fact it's just too big to fit in most cupboards.

That being said, the ice cream you get from it is tasty and it is fun to use. I don't regret buying it, but I suspect that if I had that money again, I could think of a number of better uses.

At the time of review, the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl is £279.99 at Shark Ninja and Amazon.