Ice Cream in a Bag

Our TV died in a power surge a couple of months ago and since then we've looked for alternative evening activities to keep the kids from getting bored and bugging each other. Not that we were huge TV watchers before, it's just always seemed to come on around the time of the evening news and then it was a battle to get it off again. 

Confession: I haven't missed it once!

So last night was a low-key night. Kids did chores and homework, we ate dinner, and then there was a pause. It was almost like we'd come to a fork in the road and had to figure out which path to choose. I nearly panicked trying to come up with something that would take up the short amount of time between dinner and bed and then it came to me - ice cream!

I pulled out a couple industrial-strength zip-top bags and we got to work. The kids were intensely interested. Except for the kinder gardener who had done this about a month ago. He assumed a managerial roll and was in charge of telling us when the ice cream was ready to eat. 

To print this recipe click here.

Ice Cream in a Bag Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/5 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Ice to fill a large zip-top bag half way.
2 tablespoons table salt.

Directions
1. Put the milk, evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla in a quart-sized zip top bag. Press the air out of the bag and zip closed and make sure it is sealed tight. You don't want the salt/water to mix with the ice cream.
2. Put the ice and salt in a gallon-sized zip-top bag.
3. Place the milk bag inside the ice bag. Close the top of the gallon bag making sure you get most of the air out of the bag.
4. Agitate the bags. You can't throw them around, zip-top bags aren't that sturdy. We settled on a spin motion. We'd pick up the bottom corner of the bag and pull it to the top. This seemed to work well. Do this for about 10 minutes or until the ice cream becomes firm.
5. Rinse off the smaller bag with cold water before opening. Serve immediately.

We also made a chocolate version. Use the same recipe but add 2 teaspoons cocoa powder to the mix before agitating. It wasn't bad. I've already started to think about add-ins like fudge and brownie bits. The ice cream is soft-serve and melts to milk so eat it quick. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.