All Things Frozen Day 1: Ice Cream (in a bag or not)

Want to hear my secret weapon for dealing with summer heat? Add ICE!

Today's Activity: Ice Cream in a Bag

I originally saw this idea in a Parents magazine. We love ice cream so we had to try it out.


Here's what you'll need:

Ice cubes
Ziploc bags-quart and gallon size
6 Tb. rock salt (more or less)
1 cup milk
2 Tb. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
handful of chocolate chips

Fill a gallon-size plastic baggie halfway with ice. Add the rock salt. In a separate quart-size plastic bag combine the remaining ingredients. Seal the smaller baggie and put it inside the larger bag (seal that one too). Shake the bag for 10 minutes. Your hands will get cold and you might not last 10 minutes. But it is yummy even if it is a little slushy!

We combined this activity with a Family Home Evening lesson on Perseverance.

Just a few days after we did the activity I discovered this post on Make and Takes doing this same activity. Her recipe is slightly different, and she suggested wearing oven mitts while you're doing the shaking--helpful tip!

We also like to make homemade ice cream, not in a bag.Here is our favorite recipe, from the family cookbook.

Lemon Ice Cream
3/4 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar
2 cups cream (1 pt.)
Milk to fill
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
Freeze. This takes a lot of salt to freeze. Makes 4 quarts.

We'll be making this on Friday to celebrate Pioneer Day (24th of July). I think this should become an annual tradition!