Luke was given a science project assignment to complete over a week ago by his teacher, but unfortunately it needed sunshine to work...and sunny southern California has not been so sunny lately....we've had some pretty stormy days including a tornado warning (secretly I have LOVED it.....I love the drama of thunder and lightning as long as I can be indoors). Anyway..........back to science projects 101. Since Luke's given experiment was not to work we had to figure out an alternate. He came across an experiment that entailed discovering whether ice cream could be baked without melting in a science book of his, pictured above. I decided to do a google search to see if I could find any more information on the subject....and actually found a blog that showed the same science book and same science experiment....which unfortunately flopped. I left her a comment that I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry that I found her blog because Luke was so determined that this was the project he wanted to do. Well funny how things happen but it actually became very fortunate we stumbled across her blog post to help us navigate around some pitfalls. The original experiment in the book wanted you to bake the ice cream for an hour at 225 degrees and her pictures and description showed that to be a mistake....so I found another recipe that said to bake it at 500 degrees for 3 minutes...worked like a charm (well....at least the second time around...our first attempt we did not make our meringue "tough" enough). In short, to conduct the experiment you place cookies on a cookie sheet, place a scoop of ice cream on the cookie, and cover it with meringue and bake. Anyway......I think we passed, little Mr. Luke and I......I do believe we got a passing grade on what he wanted to title, "Eating Your Science".....I think because that was his favorite part of the whole thing!! But, we shall see... he turns in his project in the morning and has to present his findings to the class....which for any curious scientists out there, "Yes, you can bake ice cream without it melting"...the cookie and meringue act as insulators for the ice cream.
Aghhhh, the joys of motherhood...so many, many hats one must wear...I can now add scientist cap to the list. I love it! ;)
7 comments:
I'm so glad this worked for you!! I'm totally doing this again with my boys...the new way! They will be so pleased that their flop helped someone! :-)
It truly did help us...and it was so fun for Luke to see your experiment with your boys! Another thing we found that helped was that the asian almond cookies found in the asian aisle worked better than choc chip cookies...and the 2nd round I made the ice cream scoop "tall" on the cookie. We had a tiny bit of melting but when we cut the cookie most of the ice cream remained frozen. Hip, hip hooray! :)
Happy science experimenting!!! :)
I would love to be at your house on a Sunday afternoon... you guys always seem to be having so much fun!! And how clever is 'Eating your Science' I ask?!?!?! I just love that Lukester!
What a great experiment and I love Luke's title "Eating your Science"! You are such a great Mom/Scientist!
Frozen ice-cream covered in meringue and baked in the oven ? This sounds very much like a desert here called "Baked Alaska"... or am I mistaken? The funny thing is the French call the same desert "Omelette Norvégienne" (or Norwegian Omelette) - it shows the different perspective!
Combining science and food, I am all for it! Makes it more... delicious?
Yes, I think you are right, this is a version of Baked Alaska.....although funny thing is I had never heard of it before and I thought I knew about ALL desserts ;)
We'll have to try and make the real deal sometime....it sounds good.
So now we know the secret to deep fried ice cream. Thanks Luke. Good work.
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