With warm weather approaching and strawberry season in full swing this can only mean homemade strawberry ice cream! This recipe makes about 1½ quarts of delicious ice cream.
Strawberry Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1½ cups half and half, divided
heaping ¾ cup sugar, divided
¼ cup corn starch
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb strawberries
½ tsp lemon juice
1. In a medium saucepan mix together heavy cream, 2 cups of the half and half, a heaping ½ cup sugar, and a dash of salt. Set over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until steaming.
2. Meanwhile whisk together ½ cup half and half with the ¼ cup corn starch. Add to the heavy cream mixture once steaming. Stir constantly until mixture starts to thicken and is about to boil, about 5-10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and stir until thick, about 5 more minutes. Strip in vanilla and remove from heat to cool to room temperature.
3. While cream mixture is cooling, wash and remove stems of strawberries. In a blender or food processor combine strawberries, 3 tbsp sugar, lemon juice, and a dash of salt. Puree until smooth.
4. Mix the strawberry puree into the cooled cream mixture. Turn into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions.
5. Turn into a 2 quart container, chill at least 2 hours or until solid. Serve, and enjoy!
The weather here has started to heat up, so what better time to break out the ice cream machine. This recipe is an amalgamation of a few different New York Times recipes. Feel free to change up the heavy cream to half and half ratio, or use milk instead. I prefer a very creamy ice cream so I opted for the higher fat content of heavy cream and half and half.
Call me a snob, but store bought strawberry ice cream is not my favorite. Don't get me wrong I love ice cream and will eat many, many store bought brands and flavors. It's hard to go wrong with such a delicious treat (unless we're talking about some rather unfortunate home made jalapeño ice cream). However, it's pretty hit or miss whether strawberry ice cream will actually taste like strawberries. Using fresh strawberries in this homemade version definitely gives it an authentic strawberry flavor that pairs perfectly with the rich creamy base. I haven't tested this recipe without churning in an ice cream machine, but I imagine it just wouldn't be quite as creamy or have quite as much air worked into the cream.
As much as I love this ice cream, the process tested my patience. It felt like an eternity for the heavy cream mixture to thicken. The 30 minutes in the ice cream machine crawled by at a snails pace, and I lamented that the ice cream wouldn't freeze faster as I was licking the remnants out of the ice cream machine freezer tin.
Regardless of whether you're as impatient as I am I hope you're able to make this or at least enjoy a tasty frozen treat. Happy churning!
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