Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Delightful Desserts!

Materials:
Large (1 gallon) plastic jar (a coffee can works, too)
2 quart-size zipper-lock bags
Half & Half
Crushed ice (or snow in the winter!)
Rock salt
Vanilla
Sugar
Towel (or winter gloves)

Fill the plastic jar about half full with crushed ice. Add about 6 tablespoons of rock salt to the ice. Seal the plastic jar and shake the ice and salt for about five minutes. You’ll need to wear your gloves when you’re handling the jar. If you’re curious as to why you have to wear gloves, measure the temperature of the mixture with a thermometer. The rock salt and ice mixture gets down to about 14 degrees F (-10 degrees C)!

Use one quart-size zipper-lock bag to mix the following ingredients:
1/2 cup of Half & Half
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Seal tightly, allowing as little air to remain in the bag as possible. Too much air left inside may force the bag open during shaking.

Place this bag inside the other quart-size bag, again leaving as little air inside as possible and sealing well. By double-bagging, the risk of salt and ice leaking into the ice cream is minimized.

Place the two bags inside the jar with the ice and seal the bag. Wrap the bag in the towel or put your gloves on. Shake, rock, roll, and mix that can! Your ice cream should be ready after about 15-20 minutes.

Once mixed, remove the inner bags from the jar and rinse them well with water. You don’t want any salt water accidentally getting into your ice cream.