Cooking with Kids: Ice Cream in a Bag

This episode in the Cooking with Kids series was the kids' favorite yet! Put a few simple ingredients in a bag, seal it up inside another bag filled with ice, then toss it around for a few minutes and VOILA! Fresh homemade ice cream. I'd made homemade ice cream before that seemed to just take forever, but these were all done in less than five minutes and it was some seriously creamy, good-tasting ice cream. It was fun and easy enough that even my older kids got in on the action! Don't forget to check out my other Cooking with Kids ideas and feel free to contact me if you have any other great ideas we could try.


The ingredients: ( I made half batches for the youngest three and it was still plenty for them)

Click Here for Printable Recipe

1 cup half and half
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
ice
rock salt
quart size ziploc bags
gallon size ziploc bags

Pour half and half, sugar, and vanilla into quart size ziploc bag. Seal.

Meanwhile place 4-6 cups ice and 1/2 cup rock salt into the gallon size bag.

Place sealed half and half mixture into the bag filled with ice and salt. Seal.

Toss, knead, wiggle, and whatever else you can think to keep the bags in motion for about 5 minutes (they used hot pad holders to keep their fingers from getting too frosty).

Half and half mixture will thicken into ice cream consistency after about five minutes.

Remove from bag, add desired toppings, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!