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Make Your Own Ice Cream

Lorelei and Gran are lucky! They can use the milk from the cows on their dairy farm to make homemade ice cream. But you don’t have to live on a farm to make your own ice cream. You can use milk or cream that you buy at the store. Give it a try! Lorelei’s grandmother helped her to make ice cream.
Ask an adult to help you, too!

Materials You Will Need:

  • 1 gallon-size and 1 pint-size plastic bag (sealable)
  • 3 cups of crushed ice
  • 6 tablespoons of salt (You can use any kind of salt, including table salt, but kosher salt or rock salt works best.)
  • large bowl
  • small bowl
  • stirring spoon
  • towel or oven mitts

Ingredients For Ice Cream:

  • ½ cup of any kind of milk or cream (Note: the more fat in the milk or cream, the thicker and creamier your ice cream will be!)
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon of vanilla
  • optional: additional ingredients to flavor or decorate the ice cream, such as pieces of fruit, chocolate or butterscotch chips, chocolate or maple syrup, sprinkles or candies

Directions:

  1. Gather your ingredients and materials. Put ice into the large plastic bag until it is half full. Add the salt. Stir until the ice and salt are mixed well.
  2. Put milk or cream, sugar, and vanilla into a bowl. Mix well. Pour into the small plastic bag. Try to push as much air out of the bag as possible. Seal the bag tightly.
  3. Put the small bag into the large bag. Make sure it is completely covered in ice. Then seal the large bag tightly.
  4. Now shake, shake, shake the bag! The bag might get slippery so you may want to hold it with a towel or with your oven mitts on. But whatever you do, keep on shaking!
  5. Have you kept up the shaking for about five to seven minutes? Open the large bag and take out the smaller bag. Now scoop out the vanilla ice cream into a small bowl.
  6. If you like, add small amounts of fruit, chocolate or butterscotch chips, or syrup to create flavored ice cream or decorate with sprinkles or candies.
  7. Now pick up a spoon and dig in! (Oh, and be sure to share with your adult helper.)

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