Simple Strawberry Ice Cream
To me, nothing heralds summer like really good strawberry ice cream. Ice cream is obviously the best summer food there is. (Not open for discussion or dissent, ok? It just is.) And strawberry is the flavor that seems to whisper, excitedly, “Summer is here!”
Now, I do have to take a moment to discuss the terrible things that can be done to strawberry ice cream. Red bits of propylene glycol instead of strawberry chunks, corn syrup custard instead of honest-to-goodness cream and milk, and pink food dye instead of strawberry juice. These abominations have no business messing around in my strawberry ice cream, I can tell you that much. Especially when you realize just how simple it is to make really good strawberry ice cream from scratch. Like, insanely simple. There’s no cooking involved or anything.
Of course, this recipe wouldn’t be worth much if the finished product wasn’t so delicious and perfect. It tastes like sweet cream and strawberries. Don’t you just love it when something tastes like exactly what it is? It’s kind of absurd to say something like that, but it’s so true, especially when it comes to ice cream. If you’re like me, and you like your ice cream to taste like cream, strawberries, and summer memories, than this is the recipe for you. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 lb strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and sliced
- 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour. Once the berries are softened and macerated, and there is a good amount of juice in the bottom of the bowl, mash up the berries with the back of a fork until most of the pieces are the size that you like.
- In a large bowl, combine remaining cup of sugar and the milk. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Then add the cream, extract, and the macerated berries with all their juice.Stir well to combine.
- Freeze this mix in your ice cream maker as per your maker's instructions. My 2 qt ice cream maker takes about 25 minutes to freeze well. Once the ice cream mix if frozen and creamy, empty the ice cream into a container and freeze until firm, at least a couple of hours or overnight.