Homemade Ice Cream (in a bag)

So I've seen a recipe on a few different "Mommy Blogs" this summer for homemade ice cream that you make with in plastic bags and is ready in 5 minutes. Didn't quite believe it would be as good as they said, but I thought I'd try it.

I have to admit, it was pretty good! I used one part milk and one part half-and-half. We drink skim milk, so I think doing it with a higher fat milk or ALL half-and-half would produce a creamier product. Also, it helps to think of it more as a milk shake than ice cream. That said, it's ridiculously easy to make and would be tons of fun for kids to do!

One other note - I have always thought ingredients I had never used seemed exotic, and therefore expensive. Case in point: Rock Salt. To all you out there like me, rest assured - I picked up a 1-pound box of it for 89 cents. :-)

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup half & half or milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size ziploc bag
1 gallon-size ziploc bag
Ice cubes

Step One: Put the first three ingredients into the pint sized ziploc bag. Seal well. Check and make sure that is is sealed well. Check again.

Step Two: Put the pint sized ziploc bag inside of the gallon sized ziploc bag.

Step Three: Fill the gallon sized ziploc bag with ice and rock salt.

Step Four: Shake your bags.

After about 5-10 minutes the half & half will thicken and you will have ice cream!

Take the small bag of ice cream out of the larger bag — you may want to wipe the bag off to get rid of the salt residue, especially for younger children who are not as neat. Then, grab a spoon and eat it right out of the bag.

Enjoy!

Here is the site I got this particular recipe from, but if you Google "homemade ice cream bag" you'll come up with lots of variations and ideas... I'm thinking chocolate next time! :-) Oh, we also put it in a bowl instead of eating it out of the bag - I hate getting melty ice cream on my hand as I'm trying to scrape the bottom...

Happy eating!