Make snow ice cream

Snow ice cream is a quick treat you can only make on a snowy day. It takes about ten minutes, and it’s closer to a sweet slush or soft serve than to ice cream from a tub. Here’s how to make snow ice cream, and how to choose snow worth eating.

Choose your snow

The snow matters more than anything else in the recipe. Use only fresh, clean, white snow. For the best results:

• Wait until it has been snowing for a few hours, so the first flakes have cleared the air.
• Collect it away from roads, driveways, roofs, and anywhere pets have been.
• Skip any snow that’s yellow, discoloured or crusty.
• Set a clean bowl outside while it falls and let it fill. That way you only take snow that’s landed that day, never scooped off the ground.

Snow isn’t “pure”, it picks up whatever is in the air, so treat it like any fresh ingredient and use your judgement. If you can’t find a clean spot, make something else tonight.

Get ready before you collect

Snow melts fast, so have everything else ready first:

• A big bowl for the snow, chilled in the freezer or left outside
• 1 cup milk, or 1 can (14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup sugar, if you use plain milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt, if you like

Chill the milk in the fridge before you start. Cold ingredients mean the snow doesn’t melt as you stir.

Make it

1. Collect about 8 cups of loose, fluffy snow in your cold bowl.
2. In a small cup, stir the milk with the sugar and vanilla until the sugar dissolves. If you’re using condensed milk, just stir in the vanilla.
3. Pour a little over the snow and fold it in gently with a spoon.
4. Keep adding the milk a bit at a time, stopping when it looks like soft serve. You might not need all of it.
5. Eat it straight away.

It’s best made and eaten in the same few minutes, and it doesn’t freeze again well, so make only what you’ll finish.

Timing and where to eat it

Collect the snow in daylight, so you can see exactly what you’re scooping, and make the ice cream straight away. Early dark is no time to judge whether snow looks clean. Do it indoors, where it’s warm, and put a towel under the bowl, because snow drips as it melts.

If you’re making it for children, or for anyone who might not want it, ask first, and keep a back-up treat on hand. Some people would rather skip snow ice cream altogether, and that’s fine.

Make it yours

• A little cinnamon or nutmeg
• A spoonful of cocoa powder for chocolate snow ice cream
• A drizzle of maple syrup
• Sprinkles, or crushed candy canes on top

What goes wrong

• It’s too runny. Too much milk went in. Fold in more snow.
• It’s not sweet enough. Add more sugar, or use sweetened condensed milk next time.
• It melts before you can eat it. The bowl was warm. Chill the bowl and the milk, and work fast.
• It’s gritty with sugar. Dissolve the sugar in the milk first.
• It looks dirty. Throw it away. Don’t eat snow that isn’t clean.

Don’t have a freezer-cold bowl? A metal mixing bowl left outside for a few minutes does the job, and it keeps the snow from melting while you stir. Use a clean spoon, and never add raw egg, which some older recipes do.

If it doesn’t snow

You can still make a version. Crush ice very finely in a blender, then stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until it’s soft and spoonable. It’s a different texture, more like a slushy, but it’s the same idea, and it takes five minutes. Eat it straight away, as it melts fast.

Make it a winter day

Make it the first time it snows, in your coat, with the window open for a minute to remind you where it came from. Save a snowman for after, and eat while it’s still cold outside.