Mr Frosty is certainly a throwback. In fact he was on my own Santa list in the 80’s, and my poor parents’ arms would despair having to crank the handle on the back of him, in his older incarnation, to dispense some slivers of ice into a cup for me, those were the days!

I’m pleased to report the Mr Frosty of 2018 is much more hassle-free, and the Mr Frosty Choc Ice Maker is one product that parents won’t be dreading seeing on the Santa list this Christmas. It costs £12.99 and you can buy it from Asda or Smyths.

We were sent one to try out this week, so we gave it a whirl. The kit contains lolly moulds to freeze yoghurt lollies, and a lovely little igloo which you then use to melt chocolate to coat your frozen lollies. It’s very cute and a fun idea to make with your kids over the Christmas break too.

This blog is a bit of a “how to” also in case you are thinking of buying the Choc Ice Maker, hopefully I can give you some tips and tricks.

I found a great hack was to buy Frubes, the yoghurt that comes in straw like tubes for packed lunches. Not only are they freezable, but they are perfect to snip off the corner and pipe into the snowman mould, rather than try to spoon regular yoghurt in there. A whole box of Frubes is never more than £2.

The lolly mould is like an ice cube tray, but it’s a flexible silicon one, which has good points and bad points. The good point is that once your lollies are set they are very easy to pop out, whether they be yoghurt, like we made, or solid chocolate, or anything you freeze. The downside is that the mould once filled with yoghurt is still quite floppy, so when I tried to carry it over to to freezer some of the liquid spilled. I would suggest putting the mould on a flat tray and putting the whole thing into the freezer like that. Also don’t underestimate the size the mould takes up with the lolly sticks protruding out, you need quite a bit of space in the freezer for it. Measure it out before you start so you don’t get caught out with a armful of yoghurt lollies and nowhere to put them like me!

The yoghurt freezes quite quickly, and is very easy to pop out of the moulds, and the roof of the igloo doubles up as a stand for your lollipops, which is so handy. You then melt your chocolate coating in the main igloo part in the microwave, and coat your lollipops.

We found this part tricky, there must be a knack to it, but the shape of the snowman disappeared completely for us! It still tasted delicious anyway. We added some sprinkles and decorations, and you could add fresh fruit or any other decorations to make the pops a healthy snack.

The clean up is very simple, I just put everything in the sink with hot water.

We definitely want to try out some other recipes. Smix wants to try some solid chocolate lollipops. I want to try some other flavours of yoghurt in there, maybe add chopped up mini mallows or Nutella.

Would I recommend it? Yes, if you enjoy kitchen crafts it’s a fun one that you will do more than once, it’s easy, not much clean up required, doesn’t take up much storage either. Would make a nice gift too. Add it to the Santa list.

It took several years of nagging Santa, but I eventually did own one of these coveted ice crushing snowmen in the 80s. My memories are of the handle being impossible to turn, and of just driving the syrup from the squeezy penguin.

Well Mr Frosty is back! He's £19.99 from Smyths Toys, and there are some changes to be aware of. The super sugary syrups are no longer included, which means you can be healthier and add your usual dilute or flavouring of your choice to the crushed ice. As well as the classic Mr Frosty machine, you'll also receive lolly moulds to make yoghurt, juice, or lollies of anything in your imagination. There are also two trays of fun ice cube shapes.

You can use dilute juice and freeze that in icecubes so your ice you crush is automatically flavoured, if you choose to.

So, is the Mr Frosty machine any easier to use? My parents used to hate cranking that handle! Well the tip is to leave the ice out to allow it to soften for ten minutes to make the handle turning easier. I'm a little sceptical here as surely the physics of ice means it is either ice or water, there is no mystical 'soft ice' state. A tip I would offer up is that if you use ice cube plastic bags to make your cubes, if you whack it with a rolling pin to smash the cubes up a little smaller, you'll have more luck than just feeding Mr Frosty regular sized cubes.

We still found the handle hard to turn, sadly. We did get crushed ice and yes, it is easier than the 80s' version, but Smix is aged 8 and needed help each time he wanted to use it. Another tip we have is don't press down too hard on Mr Frosty's hat. Just apply even pressure.

If you love creative toys then Flair's club will be right up your street, visit www.coolcreateclub.co.uk

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