How to Make Easy and Delicious Snow Ice Cream

This year we almost had a white Christmas. I guess you could say it was sort of brown and white spotted, since we got less than an inch of snow. Our three youngest granddaughters went out and ran around and did whatever kids can do in less than an inch of snow. Then Aspen, 14, came in and said, "Can we make snow ice cream?"

I said, "Babe, there's not enough snow to make snow ice cream. It has to be deep enough to scrape some clean snow off the top."

She assured me she could do it, so I shrugged and handed her a big metal egg turner and a big bowl and wished her luck. If that girl says she can do something, you'd best not argue with her. She'll do it or die trying.

Later I went out and saw that all the vehicles that wouldn't fit in the garage had been sort of shaved on top and on the hoods. Aspen is our tall girl, so she could even get the high snow. The vehicles still had a really thin layer of snow on them, so I could hope the snow that had been removed was clean. They came in with a big mixer bowl full of clean snow, and told me to do my thing.

Now I don't know if you make homemade ice cream, or if you make it the way we do. We've always made ours with raw eggs, and so far they haven't killed anyone. At least I don't think they have. Several members of my family have passed on in my lifetime, and it could have been raw eggs that did it. But that's not what I was told. Anyway, I'm not afraid to eat them raw. If for some reason you're afraid of eating raw eggs, please don't do it. I haven't found a substitute for raw eggs, but I wonder if you might use Egg Beaters or a similar product.

In any case, I make snow ice cream with basically the same recipe I use for homemade ice cream. Here's what I do.

Depending on how much snow you have and how many will be eating the ice cream, you will need from 1 to 3 eggs. I would normally use two.

So I take a big mixer bowl and put in two raw eggs.

Next add some sugar, from ½ to 1 cup. With two eggs, maybe ¾ cup of sugar would be about right.

Beat the mixture till frothy. Then add some evaporated milk, like Pet or Carnation or Milnot. I'd say use about a cup, but this can vary to suit your taste. You just about can't mess up snow ice cream as long as you use the right ingredients.

Add about a teaspoon of vanilla, then beat it some more.

Next, you start adding snow to the mixture while running the mixer slowly. Keep adding snow till the ice cream is the consistency you like.

Spoon into bowls and stand back to avoid the stampede.

This time my ice cream was grainy, because the snow was grainy. But when you haven't had any snow ice cream for two or three years, you don't mind a little bit of grainy.

Every time I think of snow ice cream I remember going to Yellowstone several years ago.

It was May and there was snow all along the roadsides. In fact one road was still closed when we arrived there. So that day we were driving along and it started snowing like mad. We were loving it, because snow is such a treat for us who live in this part of the state.

After a few minutes, I wondered out loud if there might be enough clean snow to make snow ice cream. So I had my husband pull over and we got out and dug into our camping supplies. I found an egg turner and a big bowl, and soon had enough perfect snow for ice cream. I just happened to have eggs, milk, sugar, and everything I needed except vanilla. My husband suggested using maple syrup for flavoring so we did. He loved it. I didn't, but it was snow ice cream, so I ate it anyway. What a great treat it was to be able to sit in a cozy car while eating snow ice cream and watching it snow. God makes such beautiful, wonderful stuff!

We're freezing here tonight-12 degrees and not a flake of snow. For you guys who have snow, please make some snow ice cream and eat it for me. I know you'll like it.