I is for: Ice Cream {in a bag!}

When I was a kid, my mom used to make ice cream all the time. It was one of those old-fashioned wooden ice cream makers that spun around with ice and salt on the outside of it.

I think I took for granted how awesome it was to always have fresh, homemade ice cream in the freezer whenever we wanted.

When I was brainstorming ideas for “I” week, I decided I HAD to make ice cream. One small problem: I don’t have an ice cream maker. Nor do I have the space for one even if I wanted to go out and buy one. (I’m told they are relatively inexpensive these days).

So I was delighted to discover this super easy technique for making ice cream at home: PLASTIC BAGS!

It really is as simple as it sounds. All you need is: milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, a gallon-sized resealable bag, a quart-sized resealable bag, ice and salt.

Pour your ice cream ingredients into the quart sized bag, removing as much air as possible, and seal. Fill the gallon bag up about 1/3 to halfway with ice and about 3/4 cup of salt. (Course rock salt would be best, but I used Kosher salt and it was just fine). Place the quart-sized bag inside of the gallon bag. Remove as much air as possible and seal that one. Then all you do is shake or rock the bag for about 5-8 minutes.

I know what you’re wondering…why the salt? I wondered that as well. Thanks to a few articles on the internet, including this one on About.com, here’s why: ice has to absorb energy in order to melt. Salt lowers the freezing point of the ice, which makes it colder and requires more energy for it to melt. It is for this reason I recommend you wear winter gloves or use a towel or pot holders because it will get very cold. (BTW…for you parents or teachers out there, this would be a GREAT science demonstration because you can measure the temperature of the ice before and after to prove the point. Here’s a good article for the classroom on the subject).

This is what it looks like after about 8 minutes of shaking. You could technically eat it straight out of the bag, but that doesn’t make for as pretty of photos. 🙂

So in that case, scoop it out into a bowl, top with your favorite ice cream toppings (I went with frozen berries and huckleberry syrup from Montana) and enjoy!

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