Snow For Supper! Recipes That Call For Snow
Jan 19, 2012, 2:25 PM | Updated: 2:34 pm
By Rachel Belle
When I was a little girl, I spent a few weeks of one summer vacation splayed out on the carpet, watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie. I have always fondly remembered a particular episode where the family made a treat they called Snow Candy. I cursed my California hometown for not supplying me with the key ingredient to make this novel treat. Today, inspired by the white stuff coating every inch of Seattle, I went in search of this recipe, and discovered a handful of others that star a completely free ingredient: snow.
Snow Candy
1 cup molasses
I cup brown sugar
Fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice)
Measuring cup
Large pot
Wooden spoon
Candy thermometer, or cup filled with cold water
Shallow pan, such as a cake pan
Clean towel
Boil the molasses and sugar together in the large pot until the mixture reaches the “hard crack” stage on a candy thermometer, or until a spoonful dropped into cold water forms a hard ball and cracks. Remove the syrup from the heat.
Scoop fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice) into the shallow pan. Dip up a spoonful of syrup and dribble it onto the snow in “circles, and curlicues, and squiggledy things” as Laura and Mary did. It will harden and become candy. Lift the candy off the snow and onto a clean towel to dry.
Recipe taken from The Little House Treasury by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Erikson.
Snow Ice Cream
Leave it to the Butter Queen, Paula Deen, to turn ordinary, calorie free, snow into an indulgent dessert.
8 cups snow, or shaved ice
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place snow or shaved ice into a large bowl. Pour condensed milk over and add vanilla. Mix to combine. Serve immediately in bowls.
Vermont Sugar on Snow
Vermont Fancy, Grade-A Light Amber Maple Syrup
Pure, white snow
Sour Pickles (optional, though it’s supposed to cut the sweetness)
Donuts (optional)
Boil the maple syrup to 255 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scoop snow into large bowl or pan.
Drizzle hot maple syrup lightly over snow.
Use forks to eat the sticky top layer.
The recipe recommends following this with a bite of sour pickle or your favorite donut. I don’t write the recipes, folks. I merely steal the from the Internets.
Snow Pancakes
This recipe was apparently used during wartime rationing, when eggs were hard to come by. It substitutes eggs for snow to create a slightly more holey pancake.
1 cup of firmly packed dry snow
1 cup of flour
1 to 1 1/2 cups of milk
Pinch of salt
Butter or oil to fry
Mix all ingredients thoroughly to make a batter.
Heat the butter or oil in the pan or skillet until hot. Drop spoonfuls of mix onto the hot fat and cook one side. Flip over to finish. Serve with lemon juice and sugar or Maple Syrup.