It’s amazing to make ice cream with fresh snow, yes, snow! Sounds cool, right? With these few steps you can make your own snow ice cream. Let’s begin!
Snow Ice Cream Ingredients
Here are the 5 simple ingredients that you will need to make this snow ice cream recipe:
- 1 cup milk (any kind): For this recipe, you can pretty much use any type of milk you like, whether it be dairy- or plant-based, plain, vanilla, or chocolate, sweetened or not.
- 1/3 cup granulated white sugar: Although we usually use plain white granulated sugar to make snow cream, feel free to substitute any preferred sweetener and quantity.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract: As our primary flavor, we’ll add a tiny bit of vanilla extract.
- 1 pinch fine sea salt: To enhance the vanilla flavor, I also strongly advise including a pinch of fine sea salt.
- 8 cups fresh snow (or shaved ice): Finally, you’ll need about 8 cups of brand-new, pure snow. Or if you prefer not to use snow, you’re welcome to use shaved ice instead. In order to keep the snow from melting if you bring it inside, I advise putting it in a chilled glass bowl or a metal mixing bowl.
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk milk, sugar, vanilla and salt together until combined. Go scoop up some fresh (clean!) snow, and immediately stir it into the milk mixture until you reach your desired consistency. (Ice cream should not be runny, but rather fluffy. But act quickly because it will quickly melt.)
- If desired, top with sprinkles or other ice cream toppings and eat!
Snow Cream Tips
The recipe for snow ice cream below includes thorough instructions. Here are some additional pointers to bear in mind, though!
- Freeze snow while prepping: I’m sure this goes without saying, but fresh snow melts quickly! In order to freeze your bowl of fresh snow while preparing the other ingredients, I advise you to do one of two things. Or wait until you’ve combined the other four ingredients before going out to gather fresh snow (or make shaved ice).
- Adjust the sweetener to your liking: Add as much (or as little) sweetener as you’d like, if you’d like. You’ll probably need to use less sweetener if you’re using milk that has been sweetened or flavor added.
- Add sprinkles just before serving: After a minute or two, the majority of sprinkles will begin to bleed color into the ice cream, but it’s not a big deal because the sprinkles will still taste great. 🙂 But if you want the sprinkles to look nice when you serve the ice cream, I suggest delaying their addition until the very last second.
- Enjoy immediately: In our experience, fresh snow ice cream doesn’t hold up all that well in the freezer. So it’s best to start enjoying right away. 🙂
Fun Variations
Here are a few ideas for fun add-ins you can mix into or sprinkle on top of your snow ice cream:
- Cocoa powder: Before adding the snow, stir 1 heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder into the milk mixture.
- Chocolate chips: White, butterscotch, vegan, semisweet, and other flavors.
- Cookies/candies: Gingersnaps, Oreos, candy bars, M&Ms, etc. in pieces.
- Fruit: berries, cherries, peaches, pineapple, and other fruits, chopped.
- Nuts: chopped pecans, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, etc.
Parting Words
Snow ice cream can always let me date back to my childhood, the sweet flavor and snow taste. Hope you or your kids will like this.
More Ice Cream Recipe
How to Make Japanese Mochi Ice Cream
FAQs
Is It Safe to Make Snow Ice Cream?
Your only chance of finding or making snow cream is during or after a snowfall. It’s one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make (most recipes call for some combination of snow, sugar, and cream), and not only is it safe to eat, but it’s also about as “farm-to-table” as you can get in the middle of the winter.
What Does Snow Cream Taste Like?
“It tasted almost like a snow cone,” Hager said during the show. Some have made it with maple syrup, condensed milk, or chocolate milk. You can also top it off with sprinkles, whipped cream, or whatever topping of your choice. Warning: it melts quickly so eats up.
