Amber’s Fresh Snow Ice Cream

On my first giveaway post, I asked readers to comment with their favorite snowy day activities.  Amber posted these instructions for Snow Ice Cream:

“one of my favorite winter activities is making snow ice cream! we did this after the first BIG snow every year when i was a kid – it had to be a BIG snow because you don’t want to get pieces of grass or leaves in your ice cream. ( :

SNOW ICE CREAM

*fresh WHITE snow (heehee)

*a bit of vanilla extract

*a gob of half & half (milk will do)

*a smidgen of granulated sugar

*sprinkles (optional)

 instructions: mix the snow with the vanilla, half & half and sugar. put it in a bowl, top with colored sprinkles (it’s just so cute!) and eat it QUICK! ( :”

She definitely piqued my interest, and I just had to try it out with my own boys after our recent snow storm.

I started out by scooping some of the top layer of snow, and then leaving the bowls out to collect more of the snow as it fell.  You can see it was a substantial storm.  My bowls runneth over!  I brought them in and scooped off the tops into another bowl.  Once you start adding ingredients, you lose a lot of height, so you might need more snow to add back in!

I had ingredients waiting at the ready so that we could get right to work.  Following Amber’s instructions, we scooped, stirred, and tasted.

My boys were amazed as the snow seemed to magically turn into ice cream!

They said it tasted just like vanilla ice cream!  They probably would have said more, but their mouths were full.

This was such a fun activity!  It provided all of the developmental opportunities I mentioned earlier in this post about cooking with children, plus it’s a unique science activity in its use of snow as an ingredient.  (It also reminded me a bit of the shave ice you get in Hawaii- you could try that as well!  Shave ice/snow, flavored syrup, drizzled sweetened condensed milk.) 

Thanks so much, Amber!  This was a fantastic activity!

Incidentally, Amber is an AMAZING photographer!  (I shudder to think of the pain it causes her to look at my grossly inferior shots here!) So if you’re lucky enough to be anywhere near the Treasure Valley sometime (that’s around the Oregon/Idaho border, folks), take advantage of this little treasure!  And even if you’re not so lucky to be there in person, check out her inspiring website anyway!  www.amberfischer.com

Now….when is MY next trip to the Treasure Valley?  I think we’ll be in touch, Amber!

For more wintry activities, click here!