There are actually a few different recipes for snow ice cream. Here are some of the most common recipes:

Snow Ice Cream Without Eating Snow

This first recipe uses snow and salt to freeze the ice cream (an example of freezing point depression), but this recipe doesn't involve actually eating the snow (the rest of the recipes do). This is a great recipe if you want to play with the snow, but don't consider it clean enough to eat.

Fill a gallon freezer bag halfway full with snow or crushed ice.

Add ~6 tablespoons of salt to the snow. This will lower the freezing point of the snow so you can freeze your ice cream.

In a quart Ziploc bag, mix:

1/2 cup half and half

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zip up the quart bag, squeezing out any excess air and put it inside the gallon bag.

Close up the gallon bag, again removing any excess air since it makes mixing difficult.

Wear gloves or else put a dry kitchen towel between your hands and the snow/salt bag. Squish the bags with your hands until the ice cream is frozen.

Remove the smaller bag and enjoy your frozen treat!

Classic Snow Ice Cream Recipe

This is a classic recipe that works really well because the sweetened condensed milk is thick and helps hold quickly melting snow together.

1 gallon or a big bowl of clean snow (if you like, you can put the bowl outdoors to collect it as it falls)

1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the ingredients together and eat the snow ice cream. Yummy!

Easy Snow Ice Cream Recipe

1 gallon or a big bowl full of snow

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cream or milk

Again, just mix the ingredients together. You get the idea.

Chocolate Snow Ice Cream

a big bowl of snow

1 cup sugar

1 cup chocolate milk

Another Chocolate Snow Ice Cream Recipe

a big bowl of snow

1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk

chocolate syrup or cocoa powder, to taste

Other Snow Ice Cream Variations

Some people like to substitute rum for the vanilla. You could add pureed fruit, such as strawberry or peaches. You may enjoy making a sort of snow ice cream float made by dropping a scoop of snow ice cream into your favorite soda.

Snow ice cream does not re-freeze well, so mix the ice cream and eat it immediately. Enjoy!