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Save This PageSLIDESHOW: Watch and listen to these cute kids make ice cream
You don't have to buy a fancy machine to make ice cream.
Just ask Alex Johnson, Lucy Rayment and Ginny Martin.
Last week the trio -- ages 7, 7 and 5 -- assembled in Alex's grandparents' backyard. They tossed and giggled their way through a process that transformed a liquid -- mostly cream and milk -- into a solid better known as ice cream.
Giggled? Yes. And they also laughed so hard you could hear them all the way to the street.
Just goes to show you that, if you've got kid-powered energy, you don't need a machine. Or a crafts project.
You need two or three kids -- or kids at heart -- willing to work for their dessert because you're making ball-toss ice cream.
An idea that's been around for some 25 years, it's the recipe of Dian Thomas, an expert in making your own fun. Today's focus is ball-toss ice cream, but you can find plenty of other ideas in her books or on her Web site, www.dianthomas.com.
Ball-toss ice cream stays alive thanks to Scouts, campers and children complaining they've got nothing to do.
The night before you plan to make ice cream, you'll want to mix the ingredients -- cream, milk, sugar and vanilla -- so the ice cream freezes faster.
The next day, assemble your power sources. This recipe makes about two cups, enough for Alex, Lucy and Ginny. So, if you're expecting a crowd, say, for a birthday party, plan on one ball for every two to three people.
With a zipper bag of would-be ice cream chilled and ready, it didn't take long for the three girls to fill a bigger zipper bag with rock salt and ice, even with a break to drop ice cubes down one another's backs.
Well, it was hot.
With some help from two kids at heart, the trio wrapped their precious package in layer after layer of newspaper, then sealed it with clear packing tape.
Initially, more tape stuck to their hands than to the newspaper. "Oh, no!" joked one kid at heart. "Your hands will be stuck forever."
After that, they got one another's hands stuck even more.
Eventually, though, they finished assembling the newspaper ball. Actually, it was more like a pillow.
Pillow fight!
Just as much fun was tearing open the pillow to see what was inside. "It's ice cream!" said the clearly astonished Lucy.
But that wasn't the best part.
The best part of making ice cream?
"Eating it!" Alex said.
"Eating it!" Lucy said.
"Eating it!" Ginny said.
And then they did.
Contact Jann Malone at (804) 649-6820 or jmalone@timesdispatch.com.
Makes 2-3 servings
Start this the night before you want to make ice cream, so ice-cream mixture can chill.
In a mixing bowl, combine milk, cream, vanilla and sugar. Whisk or stir until sugar is dissolved.
Carefully pour the ice-cream mixture into one of the quart bags. Squeeze out excess air and seal. Put the filled bag inside another quart-size bag, squeeze out excess air and seal. Refrigerate overnight.
Put one of the gallon bags inside the other, then put the quart bags into the inside bag. Fill the inside gallon bag in with ice and rock salt, alternately.
Squeeze excess air out of inside bag and seal. Seal the outside bag.
Open up sections of newspaper as if you were reading the center pages. Stack the newspaper sections on top of one another until the stack is about ½-inch high.
Place the ice cream bag in a corner of the papers. Pick up a few sheets at a time, lift the corner and roll until you have covered the entire bag with newspaper. Fold in both sides and continue rolling. Repeat until all newspapers are used or until you think the ball will be too heavy to toss if you keep going. Tape as necessary as you go along. Use lots of tape on the outside of the ball to keep it from breaking apart during tossing.
Toss at least 15 or 20 minutes, longer if you want to eat the ice cream the minute you tear open the ball.
Remove ice cream from ice-salt mixture. If ice cream is too soft, put the quart bag in the freezer to firm. -- Adapted from Dian Thomas
