Summer Homemade Ice Cream

A couple of Saturdays ago I was a guest on Skip to my Lou’s “Craft Camp” … it was such an exciting day for my blog!! I met Cindy at Snap! blogger conference and I was super thrilled to be asked to be involved! The Craft Camp is 30 days, 30 crafts, 30 bloggers AND it’s still going on so, jump on over there and check out all the fun ideas for kids this summer

Hi everybody… I’m Ruthie from What’s Cooking with Ruthie where I love to talk about cooking, gardening, and little bit of everyday life! (oh yah…. AND an occasional DIY project too!) This is my first time being a part of Craft Camp! I’m super excited to be involved! Many thanks to Skip to my Lou for hosting such a fun event!!

As summer’s just beginning, I thought it’d be fun to share with you a kitchen food project for kids… Ice Cream!! AND, who doesn’t love Ice Cream?

Baggie Homemade Ice Cream!

This recipe is perfect for a summer’s day when the kiddos need a fun little project AND a bonus… they get to eat this one when they’re all finished!! I borrowed my good friend Holly’s darling little girls to help me out in the kitchen…

My darling kitchen helpers

1/2 C whole milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp sugar or agave

4 C crushed ice

4 Tbsp salt (table salt)

2 quart size zip-loc freezer bags

1 gallon size zip-loc freezer bag

a hand towel to keep fingers from freezing!

Mix the milk, vanilla, and sugar together in one of the quart-sized bags. Seal tightly, allowing as little air to remain in the bag as possible. Place this bag inside the second quart-sized bag, again leaving as little air as possible. By double bagging, the risk of salt and ice leaking into the ice cream is minimal. Put the quart-sized bag inside the gallon-sized bag, add ice, and then sprinkle salt on top of ice. Let all the air out and seal the bag. Wrap in a hand towel, shake and massage the bag for 7-8 minutes. The mixture will turn into ice cream- open and serve!

Here’s a picture of my kitchen helpers holding their baggies open for the ingredients…

Kitchen helpers holding their baggies open for the ingredients!

In this picture their baggies are all put together and they’re ready to start-a-shakin’ !!

Ready to start-a-shakin’ !

AND Voilà! Their Ice Cream’s all done!

Ice Cream's done and their ready to eat this kitchen project!!

Ice Cream’s done and they’re ready to eat this kitchen project!!

Time to dig in…

Diggin’ in!

Good times with their Ice Cream!

The science behind the salt? Just like we use salt on icy roads in the winter, salt mixed with ice causes the ice to melt. When salt comes into contact with ice, the freezing point of ice is lowered. Water normally freezes at 32 degrees F. A 10% salt solution freezes at 20 degrees F and a 20 % solution it freezes at 2 degrees F. By lowering the temperature at which ice is frozen, we’re able to create an environment in which the milk mixture can freeze at a temperature below 32 degrees F and it turns into ice cream!