Summer heat CAN be beat…with this easy Ice Cream in a Bag Summer Fun recipe! We recently found this great idea on Pinterest for making our own ice cream in a bag. It was such a fun way to enjoy a cool & delicious treat with a variety of flavor options!
While we were at Tybee Island, Georgia this past week, it only seemed natural to make peach ice cream. I’ve got to say, you really can’t beat fresh Georgia peaches.
This process of making ice cream in a bag works similarly to a churning ice cream maker in the way that it uses ice & rock salt on the outside of the mix to freezer it. Did you ever have one of those ice cream maker balls that you filled the inner tube with your mix, then filled the hard plastic ball with ice cubes and rock salt, and you rolled it around on the floor til it was frozen? …that one time you used it… LOL, yeah – it works just like that!
Following the recipe from Lina, at Hip2Save.com, we were quite successful for very little cost and the kids could easily recreate this treat on their own! When the kids are bored or you run out of summer activities, keep this little project in the back of your mind. It’s great for a hot day outside or it can even be done inside on a rainy summer day. Here’s what you need:
Homemade Ice Cream In A Bag
yield: 1 Serving
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 10 minutes
total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
· 1/2 cup milk or half & half
· 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 Tablespoon sugar
· 1/3 cup rock salt (we used regular salt & it worked too!)
· 3 cups crushed ice or ice cubes
· 1 gallon size freezer bag
· 1 quart size freezer bag
· Optional: diced fruit such as peaches or strawberries
Directions:
1. In a large gallon-size freezer bag, mix salt and ice.
2. In the quart-size freezer bag, mix together milk, vanilla, and sugar (an optional mix in suggested below.) I found that setting the quart-size bag in a sturdy cup was a great way for the kids to be able to measure & pour the ingredients themselves.
3. Seal quart-size bag tightly after squeezing out extra air, and place it inside the gallon-size bag.
4. Seal gallon-size bag tightly, and shake for about 5-10 minutes until mixture is frozen. This is the perfect time for the kids to help, but maybe use gloves or a kitchen towel because the mixture will be really cold!
5. Be gentle enough to not break the bag. You can eat right from the bag or scoop into a bowl or cone. I made sure the ice cream was set really well and when I pulled the smaller bag out of the salt & ice mix, I rinsed off the outside of the bag so salt water didn't run down and drop into the bowl as I spooned my ice cream out into a bowl.
Optional Mix Ins:
· For strawberry or peach ice cream: just cut up or crush some fresh fruit & add to the vanilla recipe mix.
· For chocolate ice cream: add 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and an extra 1/2 teaspoon sugar
· For Cookies & Cream: crush up some Oreo cookies and add them to the vanilla or chocolate ice cream after the ice cream is frozen.
· Bella loves coconut flavor and had the idea to swap out the vanilla extract for coconut extract and it worked! It really tasted like coconut! She still put peaches in and they tasted great with the coconut too.
· Sophia passed on the peaches but was very curious to know if she could make pistachio ice cream by adding crushed pistachios to her vanilla ice cream. I didn't get to taste it, but she was happy with the result.