Shakin' Things Up!

Every mom knows that kids who play hard take great naps. That's exactly what I had in mind today when we made ice cream! Yes, you read that right - we made ice cream. The twist - and the reason your kids will nap well afterwards - is that instead of using an ice cream churn, we shook it up. It didn't take long - but you will me amazed how much energy it takes to shake your soon-to-be ice cream for 5 minutes!

Here are the kids, hard at work - before they let me take over:













And, here are the kids tasting the final product:













I learned a couple of lessons during the process:

1 - Be prepared to do some (no, a LOT) of the shaking yourself (but you won't earn a nap....)
2 - Dig out the mittens from last winter before you get started.
3 - Homemade beats store bought - especially since this was so easy!

The recipe? Did you want the recipe? Oh, okay.....
(By the way, I got the recipe from FamilyFun.com - I watched the video first, and you can get a printable version of the recipe, too).

For the ice cream, you'll need:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small (quart-sized) zipper bag

For the "shaker" bag, you'll need:
1/2 cup kosher or rock salt (we used kosher)
ice cubes
2 large (gallon-sized) zipper bag

Prep time: less than 5 minutes; Shaking Time: 5 minutes; Yield: 2 servings

Pour the sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla extract into the small bag and zip closed (squeeze out most of the air, but not all of it). Double-bag the large bags, and put the small bag with the ice cream ingredients inside. When you are ready to start shaking, add the ice (I filled it a little more than 1/2 way) and the salt. Close the bags and shake for about 5 minutes, until the ice cream is a little thicker than soft serve.

We did not add any toppings to the ice cream - I'm a big believer in trying it "as-is" the first time. You shouldn't get any complaints - it was fantastic!

I doubled the recipe to make four servings. I did not increase the portions within the small bag - I made two "shakers" and then shook each recipe-worth of ice cream individually (it is possible to do all of the shaking yourself....). By the way, I highly recommend double-bagging, and I also suggest using store-brand bags. I used name-brand bags, which got torn, so in any case you probably won't be able to use them twice.

We will be making this ice cream again, and I will update this post if we come up with any good variations on the original recipe. Hope you will try it - it's great fun, and a great way to cool off on a HOT summer day!