The Aeroccino 3 is a sleekly designed product about the size of a can of peaches that heats and froths milk to super fluffy consistency in about thirty seconds making for perfect cappuccinos, lattes or macchiatos.

The frother has a clever frothing mechanism consisting of a ring magnet rotor that fits over a vertical post inside the unit and spins rapidly in the presence of a rotating magnetic field, which is created in the stator coils embedded in its base.

What I like about it is that there is no waiting for steam to build up, no messy clean-up, no spatters on the counter top, no plunging a mechanical frother, etc. Just simply put the frothing rotor on the little post inside the vessel, pour in the milk to the graduated mark, press the button momentarily for warm froth or hold the button in for two seconds for cold froth. If you want warm milk with no froth, put on the non-froth rotor, pour in the milk and press the button. Voilà!

Moogieland has a recipe, and photos, for this delightful Star Wars-themed sweet. Snip:

In a galaxy far, far away, I purchased the Han Solo in Carbonite ice cube tray from Think Geek. I knew that I wanted to use it to mold chocolate. But I wanted more than a chocolate bar. And by harnessing the power of the dark side, I added a sugar cookie layer. Yes, Dark Sith Lord, I have cookies. Da da da, dun da-daaa, dun da-daaaa. Now step aside Darth Vader, no using the force to raid the cookie jar!

(via Boing Boing Flickr Pool; photo: Moogieland)

Over at the Wirecutter, Brian Lam has an exhaustive, intensively-researched, budget-minded examination on what gadgets to buy (or not!) if one wants to drink nice fresh vegetable juices every day. Do read it.