We’re Well into Summer, Time for Strawberry Ice Cream!

Those are dried strawberries I’m garnishing it with by the way.

Another post, another absurdly late response to the 52 weeks of cooking challenge. I’ll be honest, it’s been pretty rough lately, I started an online course and I just started doing night classes to get my teaching credential. Not to mention all manner of freelance projects I can’t share at the moment!

I’m definitely keeping busy and I’m thankful for it, but it is definitely a drain on the ability to meet my ideal post quota.

Enough complaining though, I’ve got ice cream! Please note that I’m assuming you have an ice cream maker. There are other ways to handle it when you don’t have one, but really, if you like making ice cream, it is worth the investment. I’ve been using an older model of the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for a number of years now and I have no complaints.

 

I’m adapting the strawberry ice cream recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream book.

Here’s all the ingredients required: whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, and of course, strawberries.

Really, you want to prep the strawberries later, about an hour before you’re ready to use an ice cream machine, but I just wanted to get them out of the way. I’ve hulled them with the tip of a steak knife, but I hear if you’ve got a big piping bag tip, it will work a lot faster.

Chop strawberries coarsely.

Divide in half, mash one half of the strawberries.

Add them all back together, cover and chill for at least an hour.

Combine the milk and cream and stir well. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add vanilla, and stir occasionally over 15 minutes. Then cover and chill for at least 3 hours, up to 8 hours. See why you should do the strawberries later? I don’t really see a problem with “over chilling” the strawberries though.

Set up your machine and pour in the chilled milk mixture. I have to turn on the machine first and then pour it in, your instructions may vary.

I got distracted a bit too long and let the ice cream maker turn the milk into ice cream practically before adding the strawberries. You want it to still be on the thick side whipping cream rather than all out ice cream.

At any rate, add your strawberries when it is appropriate.

Marvel at the lack of leeway you have in terms of space if you’ve a smaller model of ice cream maker. Carefully remove the good stuff into a freezer safe container, cover and freeze.

I’d also advise you keep a clean mixing bowl handy to put all of the pieces in as you remove the ice cream. There’s a lot of excess, and that’s some good eating as you clean up.

Well, there you have it, some strawberry ice cream which looks a little funny due to the way the ice cream stuck to the plastic wrap I used to protect the cover. Sorry about the lighting!

How’s the finished product?

The freshness of homemade strawberry ice cream really stands in stark contrast to that of the store bought kind. I can say this with confidence as I’ve just tried some of strawberry cream from one of the more well known name brands shortly after my own. While certainly pleasant in a familiar way, the store bought ice cream really lacks the pop of fresh strawberries. Among other issues.

So if you’ve time, I definitely recommend you make some of your own!

I hope this was informative, and I hope you get the chance to make this!

Strawberry Ice Cream, Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream book.

• 2 cups of heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream)
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh strawberries (please read recipe first before washing and cutting)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the heavy cream to the milk, then stir in the sugar until it dissolves.  Add the vanilla, and stir occasionally over 15 minutes. Cover bowl and chill for 3 to 8 hours.
2. About an hour and a half prior to using your ice cream machine, prep your strawberries, thoroughly washing, then hulling them. Chop them all coarsely and mash half of them into smaller chunks. Reincorporate all of the strawberries together in a bowl, cover and chill for an hour.
3. Set up your ice cream machine as per manufacturer directions and add the milk mixture to start the freezing. When the mixture has thickened to the consistency of thick whipped cream, add the strawberries, and run the machine until they are well incorporated.
4. Transfer the mixture to a freezer safe container, then cover and freeze for at least three hours to firm it up. Then enjoy!