Snow Time Again

Every year I write about making and eating snow ice cream with my kids. It is one of the winter rituals my kids look forward to every year. And with the amount of snow that is being predicted for our area coming in the next few days, I thought I would again post about snow ice cream.

The pictures here are from December 27, 2009. Our Christmas eve this year was white and the kids were able to sing "White Christmas" on the way to their Grandpa's house on that evening as we had gotten a few inches of snow the week before. Christmas day, however, was a different story. It rained much of the day and all the white snow lined yards turned to a mucky green.


On December 26, the rain turned back into snow and we got close to a foot of snow. My kids urged me to "put out the bowl" to collect the snow so that we could make our first batch of snow ice cream of the season. I made my husband do it (I didn't want to go out on the cold, snowy deck to place the bowl on the grill) and it sat there until December 27. After I unsuccessfully attempted to open the screen door which was hopelessly frozen shut, I put on my boots, my hat and scarf, my gloves and winter coat and went out the front door to trudge around to the back of the deck to collect the now full bowl of snow.


I brought the bowl inside and began making the snow ice cream. It's rather simple, really. Start pouring in half and half and stir the mixture occasionally. When it begins to resemble soft serve ice cream, add 1/2 cup of sugar and a little vanilla extract. Taste and decide whether it needs more sugar or not. If you run out of half and half, milk can be used to finish the mixture until the right texture is achieved. Eat immediately!


This particular batch used a full pint of half and half. After that ran out, I used some whole milk that was leftover from a fudge recipe. Being lactose intolerant, I declined to eat any ice cream (besides the little tastes to ensure good flavor). My kids, however, ate almost the whole bowl. It is a fun (and yummy) tradition!