Five Minute Crazy Fun Shaken Ice Cream!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day my friends,
and welcome to Mangia Mondays, the foodie blog hop I co host each week with the lovely mama-to-be, Kristin of Delightfully Dowling!

After posting a recipe for homemade ice cream using an ice cream maker last week (along with a very naughty but deeelish hot fudge sauce!) it was brought to my attention by some younguns in my house that I never shared with you a very fun ice cream method my kiddos tried this fall.

It’s a science experiment and snack all in one and it’s perfect for a day off from school or a playdate.

First of all gather your ice cream making volunteers. For this adventure we have Sean, Hannah and our friend Emma who lives down the road. Emma is such a cutie and doesn’t even think it’s weird that Mrs. Scibilia takes pictures of food all the time.

Now gather your ingredients – these quantities are per person:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
various toppings/mix-ins as desired

For each person, you will also need:
1/2 cup salt (kosher or rock salt work best, but table salt will work too)
1 gallon ziplock baggie
1 sandwich-sized ziplock baggie
a whole lot of ice cubes
a pillow case

Fill each gallon sized baggie halfway with ice. Add salt.
In the sandwich sized baggie, place the ice cream ingredients:  sugar, half-and-half and vanilla (I placed the little bags in a bowl and let the kids pour in their own ingredients).

Press out any air in the baggie, seal tightly and place into the bigger bag. Seal that baggie up nice and tight as well and place the whole thing into a pillow case.

Put some crazy music on (this is required!)

Set a timer for 5 minutes…..

…then jump around and shake like crazy!! Show us your moves!

When the timer goes off, take the smaller baggie out and rinse the salt off the outside
(if you don’t do this, some salt inevitably ends up on your ice cream – blech.)

Why does this method work? Check out this well-said explanation from Steve Spangler Science.

Isn’t that fun?? AND your kids think that you’re the best mom ever – bonus!!

Now what do you have for us today? Share any recipes, kitchen tips and tricks, or great restaurants by linking up below or commenting. Thanks so much for visiting today!