There is something special about a big bowl of old-fashioned strawberry ice cream. Don’t you agree? I needed a dessert to serve when we had some friends over, and simplicity kept coming to mind. There sitting on the counter were some strawberries left from our weekly farmer’s market haul. They had not seen their last day as of yet, and I wanted to do more than turn them into the roasted strawberry sauce which tends to happen with leftover berries. I decided to keep it real by making a simple ice cream.
This recipe was inspired by my friend Bree, as well as the custard based ice creams in the book Perfect Scoop (which is my go-to book for ice cream making). I liked the simplicity, as well as the freshness of Bree’s recipe, but I tend to lean towards loving custard-based ice cream so I decided to work her idea of macerating the strawberries first and then adding them to the custard just before churning. The berries I used were on the smaller side, so I cut the medium-sized ones in half and left the small ones whole, which made the ice cream not only rich but texture heavy. It worked brilliantly!
While this ice cream recipe does require a small amount of planning, it is well worth it, as the essence of summer really shines through.
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Tools:
ice cream maker or this model works nicely
freezer container or containers
Strawberry Ice Cream
There isn't anything better than homemade strawberry ice cream for a hot spring time day made with the freshest strawberries.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and cut in half
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half and half
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Place the strawberries, lemon juice and 3/4 cup of sugar into a mixing bowl. Stir, and set aside for 2 hours.
Heat the cream and half and half in a medium saucepan over low heat, just until boiling. Remove from the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks with the 1/4 cup of remaining sugar until lemony, in a large mixing bowl.
Slowly add the milk, whisking the entire time to prevent scrambling. This is VERY IMPORTANT.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
Over low heat, stirring continuously, cook the egg/cream mixture until it coats the back of a spoon. Do not stop stirring or you will have scrambled eggs.
Remove from the heat.
Pour the mixture into a medium-sized bowl that is sitting in a larger bowl of ice. Let cool.
Stir the strawberries to lightly break up.
Add to the custard mixture.
Stir in the vanilla.
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.
Process the ice cream according to your ice cream maker directions.
Place into a container or containers, and then freeze until ready to eat, about 4 hours.
Sandra Shaffer
Tuesday 5th of August 2014
Before the summer is over I have to make homemade ice cream. Your strawberry ice cream is just scrumptious. Such gorgeous photos!
Betsy @ Desserts Required
Thursday 31st of July 2014
I am a huge fan of textures that complement creaminess. Using whole strawberries is brilliant (or cutting the larger ones into reasonable size pieces). Gorgeous pics, too!
Lydia Sugarman
Wednesday 30th of July 2014
Would the food processor / blender method work for this ice cream? That is where you prepare the ice cream mixture, freeze it (in a thin flat layer in a zip-lock plastic freezer bag. After it's frozen, break it up into fairly small pieces and empty into a food processor and blend until creamy. Put in a container and return to freezer until ready to serve.
Jamie
Wednesday 30th of July 2014
I am normally not a strawberry ice cream fan but this one could change my mind! Gorgeous! Not to pin it to both my strawberry and my ice cream boards!
Jenni
Wednesday 30th of July 2014
Gorgeous and summery--perfect!