Shake and Eat: Ice cream in a bag

This really should be a post for summer time, but I couldn't help myself; it was uncharacteristically warm today in the northern mid-west.  I'm having a hard time letting go of summer and have been a little anxious about my first mid-west winter.  Let's not talk about that,though.  The truth is I truly appreciated the warmth today, so we celebrated.  If you know our family, you know we always celebrate with ice cream.  

Here is a fun little recipe for ice cream made in a bag all in about 10 minutes.

You will need:

ice cubes

1/2 cup kosher salt

1 cup half-and-half

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 resealable sandwich bags

1 gallon-size resealable freezer bag

dish towel

1. Fill the gallon-size bag half full with ice.  Add kosher salt.

2. In one sandwich bag, mix half-and-half, sugar and vanilla (we also put in a few drops of food coloring for fun).  Seal tightly and put in second sandwich bag and seal to prevent any leaking.

3. Place the small bag inside the large bag.  Seal the large bag tightly so it won't leak.

4. To protect your hands from the cold, wrap the dish towel around the outside of the large bag.  Shake vigorously for about 5-7 minutes or until the half-and-half mixture turns into ice cream. 

Note: shaking is the fun part.  We turned up the music (Gypsy Kings to be specific) and took turns shaking and dancing around the room.

5. Carefully spoon ice cream into a dish avoiding the salt. 

mmmm, tasty!