Making ice cream from snow. What?
It was an innocent enough text: What do you do with 42 inches of snow?
A link to a recipe followed. Last week a snowstorm blew through the area where I live and dumped a record-breaking three and a half feet of snow, leaving us all in various stages of snowed-in. School was canceled for two days — even remote classes — because, to paraphrase from the email sent out by the superintendent, “this year sucks and as adults we want a snow day, too.”
So when my friend texted me a recipe for vegan ice cream made from snow I was down.
The recipe by Chantal Kirkland of Nerdy Mamma calls for powdered sugar and a can of coconut milk, which I happened to have on hand, and eight cups of snow, which I happened to have two steps outside my door. The recipe also called for vanilla extract, which I accidentally doubled and then immediately regretted my life choices that led me to making ice cream out of snow.
If you’re not too strong a fan of vanilla — like me — you can leave it out.
Eight cups seems like a lot of snow, but trust me, you need it in order to get the right consistency. And I cannot stress this enough, but if you try this recipe make sure you’re using clean snow. I pulled the snow from my balcony: pristine and white and free of squirrel footprints.
Overall it wasn’t bad. I stuck mine in the freezer for about an hour so that it would set long enough for some photos, but the texture and flavor weren’t bad. I’m not sure I would make this again, but as a one- off winter treat I highly recommend it.
Dairy free ice cream from snow
Recipe from nerdymamma. com.
Ingredients:
• 8 cups fresh snow (or shaved ice if snow is not available)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3⁄4 can of coconut milk (use the solids, discard the water)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS » Using hand mixer, combine vanilla extract, sugar and coconut milk until smooth. Some small lumps are okay. Gently fold in snow, two cups at a time. Be careful not to overmix as snow will lose its consistency. Once all ingredients are combined, place in freezer for one hour or until ice cream sets. Serve with your favorite toppings.