Strawberry Ice Cream

Because I’m craving something sweet and because the strawberries are still fresh and good this time of year, it’s time for a Friday Flashback…

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! And this rich strawberry confection will really have you screaming for more. After we made this version with vanilla beans, we made another batch with almond extract instead of the vanilla and I think it was even better. I love vanilla but something about the almond and berry combination made it even richer.

You’ll need about six cups of cream mixture total. How much of that is cream and how much is half and half or milk is up to you. It just depends on how fattening creamy you want it. Same deal with the sugar, it just depends on how sweet you like it.

Ingredients:

-Heavy Cream, about 3 cups
-Half and Half and/or Milk, 3 cups
-Sugar, about 1 1/2 cups total
-Vanilla Bean or Vanilla Extract
-Strawberries, 1 pint

Directions:

Start with about a cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan.

Add a couple of cups of the cream. You could add all of the cream and milk but it’ll just take longer to cook. Since this step is just to dissolve the sugar, you don’t need to heat all of it. It’ll just take longer for it to get cool enough to put in the ice cream maker.

Drop in the vanilla bean or, if you’re using vanilla or almond extract, add a tablespoon or so.

Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and mix it in with the rest of the cold cream and milk. Put it in the fridge and let it get completely cool. And completely cool is the key. Don’t get impatient like I do sometimes. It just won’t freeze as well unless it starts as cold as it can be.

Meanwhile, rinse and slice the berries and sprinkle them with about 1/2 cup of sugar.

Mash the berries with a muddler or potato masher or give them a quick whirl in the blender. Let them sit for a bit and they’ll get nice and syrupy.

Freeze the ice cream in your ice cream maker, following the instructions that came with it.

I’m using the Cuisinart because it seems easier than layering ice and salt in the old one but I’m still not quite sold on it. It seems to thaw too quickly. With the old one it’s easy to just throw in a bit more ice and salt if the ice cream needs more time.