As someone who craves a sweet after-dinner treat, this mini ice cream maker has changed my life. I’m whipping up new flavor combinations every night—think dark chocolate raspberry, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie, caramel pretzel, you name it. I bought mine on sale for $40 in February, but I haven’t seen the price this low since last year.
Small but mighty, Dash’s My Mug Ice Cream Maker concocts creamy soft serve in about 20 minutes (and smooth, hard ice cream, if you’re willing to be patient). I first discovered it on social media years ago, and it quickly became one of the most popular gifts—readers can’t seem to get enough. Take it from a gifts editor: It’s a really versatile holiday present. I recommend it for mom, dad, and teens (it’s even easy enough for kids to use).
Pros
- Makes delicious soft serve in 20 minutes
- Endless flavor combinations
- Easy to use and clean
- Affordable, compared to other popular ice cream makers
Cons
- Can get messy if you add a lot of mix-ins
- Machine is a little noisy
My Review:
As someone who lives in a small apartment, I was pleasantly surprised by the compact size of the My Mug maker. The set includes two bowls and an electric churner, which breaks down into three pieces for easy cleaning. The bowls have some weight to them, but the entire kit takes up minimal space when disassembled. Something to note: I have the Disney Dash My Mug Ice Cream Maker, which has Lilo & Stitch on the bowl—a version that’s not available on Amazon.
I put both bowls into the freezer right away, and they were fully cold and frozen 24 hours later (the brand suggests between 24 and 48 hours). Initially, I thought it might be annoying to wait—do I really have the foresight to predict when I’ll want ice cream 24 hours in advance? But since the bowls are small enough, I’ve just kept one clean bowl in the freezer at all times.
The kit also includes a booklet filled with easy-to-follow recipes: vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter banana (dairy-free), pineapple whip, and coconut ice cream (also dairy-free). I stuck with the vanilla recipe, which requires so few ingredients, you likely have them at home already: skim milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and whatever mix-ins you crave.
The instructions are simple: Take your bowl out of the freezer, turn on the churner, and pour in your mixed ingredients through the chute. (I got lazy, and started just adding in my ingredients, then setting up the churner, and found it had the same results.) You can walk away as your ice cream churns—it took about 15 to 20 minutes for my ice cream to become thick and creamy. I will say, the machine is a little noisy, but nowhere near as loud as, say, a blender.
Overall, I was impressed by the taste of the ice cream every time, and found my various concoctions to be creamy and smooth. My favorite ice cream had dark chocolate chips and frozen raspberries, but I also tried chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter, Kit Kat bars, chocolate chips, caramel cookies, and plain vanilla. I love that there are endless flavor combinations to create, and that I can customize the ice cream to fit my taste buds.
I did notice that some mix-ins (like chocolate chips) make the machine run a little louder, and the lid got a little messier when chips hit the churner—but the end result still tasted delicious. You can also pop the ice cream into the freezer for a few hours, if you prefer a harder consistency.
I personally found the individual serving to be a great portion, even when shared. My fiancé and I enjoyed sharing the ice cream (although I’m sure he would happily eat the entire thing). The downside, of course, is that if you’re making ice cream for more than one person, you’ll have to wait an additional 20 minutes to enjoy a second bowl.
The bowls and churner (the paddle and lid easily remove) can be cleaned quickly. The bowl gets very frozen, so I found it’s best to clean it after a few hours, then pop it back in the freezer once it’s dry.
The Takeaway: Is the Dash My Mug Ice Cream Maker Worth the hype?
Without a doubt, I would make this purchase again. It’s easy to use, quickly whips up delicious soft serve, and it takes up minimal space in my apartment. Not to mention, it’s less than $50—so much cheaper than most ice cream makers (as much as we love the Ninja Creami).
I continue to experiment with new ice cream flavors and recipes. I keep catching myself saying, “We have ice cream at home,” when my fiancé wants to buy ice cream at the shop.
