Snow Cream

There are things that are common in other parts of this country that aren't so much in the south and when we southerners encounter them, it's with bemusement. Really thick yankee accents. Lacrosse. Men wearing Speedos. Snow.

We like snow, though. We celebrate its unusual arrival by buying lots of milk, bread, and eggs; by shutting down schools and daycares. By finding random objects and testing them as sleds...flattened cardboard boxes, errant political signs, pool floats and innertubes, plastic bags. And by testing our ability to drive on ice (spoiler alert: we really suck at it).

But some of us celebrate by staying inside and drinking hot chocolate (and apparently--based on the run at the grocery--having french toast). And by making snow cream! When I was a kid, this was one of my mom's favorite things to do. Though I have to admit that I was hardly enthusiastic back then. Any time my mom made something on her own, I felt cheated out of a storebought version (birthday cakes in particular). I was kind of a rotten kid at times. Now that I've matured, I can appreciate such things and yesterday, I took the opportunity to make snow cream for the first time!

To make snow cream, you need a big ol' bowl of reasonably clean snow, some dairy or dairy-like product, sugar, and vanilla. Fortunately, when I sent Mr. Eats out in the first part of the snowfall to get formula for Baby Eats, I reminded him that he needed half and half. If not for that large container of half and half, we might have been forced to use something I shall not mention. Anyhoo.

Snow Cream
One large bowl of snow (not packed; scrape away any layer of ice on top to get to the powdery stuff)
1/2 to 1 cup milk, cream, soy milk, or whatever milk- or cream-like product you have
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (to taste)
vanilla

Mix the milk, sugar and vanilla (about three drops per half gallon of snow) in a small bowl and then stir the mix into the snow. If you need more sugar or vanilla, pull a small amount of snow cream out of the bowl and melt it slightly to mix it in (do not put vanilla into the snow cream or you will get frozen spots of nothing but vanilla; it won't mix). And then you have snow cream!