Snow Cream
Thought I'd add some flavor to the blog this year by including a few recipes. We're deep in blizzard season here in New England, so that means it's time for snow cream. If you've never made it, prepare to have your mind blown.
Snow cream is a basically free ice cream direct from mother nature. If you have milk and sugar and vanilla extract, and are located in a part of the world where it snows, you can make ice cream in five minutes flat. No special tools required. And if you make it with heavy cream and artificial sweetener, you can make it sugar free. Which is awesome because then you can eat a ton of ice cream without feeling bad or sad or having to justify it with things like exercise.
If I know it's going to snow, I'll make it a point when I'm stocking up on groceries at the store, to toss in the ingredients for snow cream. They are as follows (snow being the final ingredient):
- Heavy Cream (or Half and Half / Milk / Almond Milk / Etc.)
- Splenda (or sugar / Equal / Stevia/etc.)
- Vanilla Extract
PREP WORK
If you know you’re getting some snow (>3”), pick a nice big mixing bowl and set it outside at the start of the snowstorm. Set it within an easy to reach place where it can fill up with snow over the hours and where you can reach it without too much effort. This step isn’t required, but it helps keep the snow super cold by pre-chilling the bowl and saves you the step of scooping it up later.
TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS
Set out your preferred dairy product, preferred sweetener, and vanilla extract. Sprinkles are required in my house, but they certainly don’t have to be in yours. You can top snow cream however you like, or leave it unadorned. Spoons, obviously. One big one for mixing and small ones for shoveling it into your mouth.
GRAB SOME SNOW
Grab your bowl of snow. If you didn’t set it out ahead of time, you can simply scoop fresh, clean snow into a mixing bowl. Try to scoop the top layer and avoid digging too deep because you don't want grass or debris in your food. Should be obvious, but figured I'd mention it. Also, don’t pack the snow into the bowl, just scoop it up light and fluffy. My rough estimation is one cup per one serving. I’ll typically make four cups/servings because I’m usually treating myself and my boyfriend extra well for shoveling the driveway. You do you.
MIX A LOT
Alright here’s where it gets imprecise, but there’s a wide margin for error and it’s pretty easy to correct if you need to. Start with pouring in the cream. I like to use around half of a small (16oz) carton, then adjust for consistency. Pour that in and stir the snow with a big spoon. Just kind of fold it over and over. It’ll start to melt down a bit, but not all the way. It will get clumpy and that’s what you want. Don’t stir until smooth, it will become too melty. Mix and fold until it the milk is incorporated, then stop.
Next, splash some vanilla extract in. I got some fancy kind from the hipster grocery store but good ol' McCormick's is fine. I use around a teaspoon (I’ve never bothered to measure). Then, add in some sugar. You can go straight up white sugar or, if you’re being healthy, you can make it sugar free by using Splenda, Equal, Stevia, Truvia, or whatever sweetener you dig. I use Splenda. Again, this is as much or as little as you want. For white sugar, you’ll probably add in ~1/8 a cup and give it a taste to see. I think I use around 6-8 Splenda packets for 4 cups of snow myself.
Stir that in until you feel like it’s all evenly distributed. It should still be clumpy and a mostly solid mush. Transfer it into small bowls if you're sharing with friends. Or just keep it in one big bowl and say, "I've earned this." I'm sure you did something to deserve a huge bowl of snow cream, if you think hard enough. Like, putting on pants or something when you didn't have to.
SERVE IT UP
That was it! From here, it’s ready to eat. Shower it with rainbow sprinkles or chocolate syrup or caramel sauce or whatever. I’m not the boss of you. Do what feels right. Then kick back and enjoy the bounty of mother nature instead of cursing the snow gods for blighting your city with an epic blizzard.
