Ziploc Ice Cream

It's summer time, it's hot, and you've got to entertain the troops kids. Making ice cream in a Ziploc^TM bag is fun and easy. I used make ice cream this way fairly often when I lived in a graduate dorm and didn't have a freezer. Later I discovered I could tame the ravenous hordes entertain little kids by making ice cream as a group activity at kid's parties. The recipe here makes enough for a single adult serving, but you can easily multiply the ingredients. Think of this recipe as a single-serving "batch." If you're making this with kids, use multiple sets of Ziploc^TM bags, and have two kids "in charge" of one batch of ice cream; they make it together and then eat it together.

Vanilla Ziploc^TM Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup rock salt *Don't use table salt. Ice cream salt works really well, but may be hard to find.
• 2 cups ice
• 1 quart Ziploc^TM bag
• 1 gallon Ziploc^TM bag
• 1 towel

Procedure

1. Mix the sugar, milk, whipping cream, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Pour the mixture into a quart ziploc bag.
3. Seal the bag securely.
4. Put 2 cups of ice into the gallon ziploc bag.
5. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup salt to the bag of ice.
6. Place the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag of ice and salt. Seal the gallon bag securely.
7. Wrap the bag in a soft towel so that people's hands won't freeze.
8. Gently rock the gallon bag from side to side. It's best to hold it by the top seal.
9. Keep rocking the bag for 10-15 minutes or until the contents of the quart bag have solidified into ice cream.
10. Remove the quart bag, open it, serve ice cream in bowls, and eat.

You can mess with the recipe a little, but adding ingredients makes the freezing a bit iffy. The exception to that is that if you're making this for you or other adults, try adding a Vanilla bean you've split down the middle, scraped the inside from, and cut into pieces, then added to the cream mixture. If you're just making the single serving, just use an inch or so of a bean. You're better off letting kids add chocolate chips or fresh fruit to the ice cream in their bowls after the fact, since fresh fruit is enough to interfere with freezing the ice cream. Adding fruit, chocolate, or other ingredients after the ice cream is made also means that you can deal with allergies and the importance of avoiding things like nuts for kids with allergies. If you're making this ice cream with little kids, use a second gallon bag as a precautionary measure. Consider using a pair of gloves for yourself; you'll be handling ice and very cold bags, and the gloves make it easier. I'd use paper bowls or cups with kids for serving; don't even try using cones. The ice cream won't "set" enough for that.