Thursday, June 26, 2008

ice cream in a bag

A couple of Saturday's ago JQ, G-tot, and I made some homemade ice cream. Which really translates to, I made the ice cream and all three of us ate it. Making ice cream—without an ice cream maker—is one of the items on my 101 in 1001 list. I found a few recipes online, picked the one that suited my needs, and gathered up the necessary ingredients (including rock salt). Not having any idea how the recipe would turn out, I opted to make a single serving size.

I can't get much easier than this. The ingredients are put in small ziploc bag, then placed in larger ziploc with ice & rock salt. Shake, shake, shake. The salt/ice combo brings the temperature down to make the freezing conditions necessary. It was pretty cold so I wrapped it in a towel for the majority of the shaking.

After just 5 minutes we had ice cream.


It turned out yummy and was fun to make. It would be a perfect activity for a sleep over or any summer event with a bunch of kids. G-tot is a bit young to really understand what was going on but he liked eating the outcome.


I bought more half & half today to make it again this weekend.


Looks pretty good doesn't it? I mixed in some fresh strawberries after I took this shot and gobbled it up. If we make individual servings again I might throw in some different fruit. Or nuts. Or bacon... (I'm kidding. Just seeing if you're still paying attention.)

Want to try it yourself? Here's the recipe I used.

Ice cream in a bag

What you'll need:

* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 cup milk or half & half
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
* 6 tablespoons rock salt
* 1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag
* 1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag
* Ice cubes

How to make it:
1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!

12 comments:

Blogarita said...

This looks like fun. I've heard of making ice cream this way, but have yet to try it. I think we might give it a try on Sparky's b'day next Friday (July 4th).

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

blogarita—We have a friend who's son was born on the 4th of July. Does Sparky love it or loathe it?

Bob said...

Maybe chocolate covered bacon..

Looks fun, but since I have an ice cream maker I'll stick to using that.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

nobody—Did you see the chocolate covered bacon at casual slack yesterday?

Kelwhy said...

YUM - boy, that sure does look good. I'm gonna have to just give that a try, everyone can make their own bag o'ice cream!!!

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

kelwhy—It was fun. Like I said, I really think kids would get a kick out of making their own servings of ice cream. Activity + Reward = Awesome

Cupcake Blonde said...

That looks yummy...

Speaking of bacon, JordanBaker made bacon ice cream on her blog and it sounds scrumptious!

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

vp—Bacon ice cream? That sounds bizarre. I may just have to check it out. :)

Blogarita said...

So far she loves it.

Her mom's b'day usually falls within the Labor Day weekend. It was hard to plan parties because people were often out of town doing their own thing.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

blogarita—That's a similar issue we have with JQ's birthday. It's exactly one week before Christmas. Holiday parties abound at that time of year.

Anonymous said...

That's great!
My favorite thing to do with kids I used to babysit, or with a Vacation Bible School class was to make butter.

You just pour half and half into a quart jar, screw the lid on and let them take turns rolling it all over the floor! Eventually, it churns into real butter! It tastes SO GOOD!

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

shades—Half & Half for butter works? I thought you had to use heavy cream. Making butter reminds me of fifth grade camp. We made it then. Actually, I just told JQ a week or so ago that I wanted to make butter again. Mmmm...