In Samantha’s day, ice cream was the national dessert and vanilla was the most popular flavor. Ice cream has been enjoyed for ages and was served in prominent homes in early America. President George Washington’s inventory records showed that he spent $200 on ice cream in 1790. The Library of Congress has President Thomas Jefferson’s favorite ice cream recipe in the archives. Dolley Madison served strawberry ice cream in 1813 at President Madison’s second inaugural dinner.

Samantha with her ingredients.

Before 1800, ice cream was a rare dessert and mainly enjoyed by wealthy people. After the invention of the insulated ice house it became more accessible. In 1843, the ice cream maker was invented and made the dessert something to be enjoyed by all. Displayed with Samantha is an accurate replica of an early ice cream maker. This piece is from Addy’s birthday collection and came with a recipe card. I display it in the doll house in Addy’s Parlor.

Pleasant Company Ice Cream Maker

The inside of the ice cream machine.

To make ice cream, you would fill the metal cylinder with cream, sugar and choice of flavor like berries or chocolate. The wooden bucket would be filled with ice and salt packed tightly around the metal cylinder. The dasher would go down into the cream and would churn as you turned the outside crank. You would turn the crank until the cream thickened to ice cream. To try another Samantha treat visit Samantha’s Lemon Ice.

For this recipe you will need: a quart of vanilla ice cream and 2 cups of shredded sweetened coconut. (The complete recipe is at the bottom of the page.)

For Samantha’s Ice Cream Snowballs, we are going to start with store-bought ice cream. Place your ice cream in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until it is soft. Scoop a large ball of ice cream and place it in the bowl of coconut. Roll it around using two spoons until it is completely covered in coconut. Repeat until you have six snowballs.

Scoop of 6 balls of ice cream.

Roll the ice cream around until covered in the coconut.

Place snowballs in a freezer container with a lid.

Place all six snowballs into a freezer container with a lid, or the coconut will dry out. After freezing for several hours the snowballs are ready to serve. The Pleasant Company Cookbook suggests serving the Snowballs with two ladyfingers. I chose to use a honey wafer cookie and it was a perfect combo. I purchased my cookies in the gourmet food section.

Ice Cream Snowballs ~ Pleasant Company 

(This recipe has been adapted from Samantha’s Cook Book.)

Ingredients 

• A quart of vanilla ice cream 
• 2 cups of shredded sweetened coconut 
• 12 ladyfingers

Directions

1. Place the ice cream in the refrigerator until it is soft enough to scoop. (About 30 minutes.)
2. Place the coconut in a bowl. 
3. Scoop a large ball of ice cream out and drop it into the bowl of coconut. 
4. Using 2 spoons, roll the ice cream in the coconut until it is covered.
5. Lift the ice cream snowball out of the bowl using a spoon, and place it in a large freezer container. 
6. Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 until you have 6 snowballs. Make sure to keep the snowballs separated or they will freeze together. 
7. Cover the freezer container tightly, or the coconut will dry out. Freeze the snowballs for several hours or overnight.
8. Remove the container from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Serve with 2 ladyfingers or without.