Abstract: An ice-cream maker comprising: a body having a rotatable paddle; a cooling chamber supported by the body for receiving an ice-cream mixture, the paddle being adapted to move through the ice-cream mixture; a sensor module for detecting a hardness measure of the ice-cream mixture; a processor module coupled to the sensor module for receiving a signal indicative of the hardness measure, the processor module being adapted to control the operation of the paddle. After the ice-cream mixture has reached a selected hardness, the processor module periodically operates paddle to churn the mixture to substantially maintain the mixture at the selected hardness. Before introduction of the mixture, the processor module can operate a cooling element to pre-cool the cooling chamber.