Summer’s quickly coming and that can only mean on thing : ice cream! Ice cream is the only thing that really makes summer tolerable for me; can’t stand the heat and the humidity. I normally start summer by making my ice cream parlor tour around town, coming back to old favorites and discovering new ones, but with the current confinement measures, I’ll have to resort to making more of my own ice cream!
Strawberry has never been my favorite flavor but I made a batch recently upon request and I must admit that it was pretty tasty! I’m writing down this recipe to share it to who ever is interested in making it at home but also so I don’t forget it, because I’ll most definitely whip up another batch soon!
Ideally, make this recipe with fresh strawberries but since they are not accessible for the moment, I used frozen ones and it worked perfectly fine.
ingredients
3 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp vodka (optional)
directions
Chop the strawberries into chunks.
In a bowl, combine the strawberries, lemon juice and 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir gently to mix everything. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Strain the strawberries and reserve the juice.
Separate the strawberries into 2 bowls. Take one bowl and slightly mash the berries. Put the other bowl aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment., add the milk and the remaining cup of sugar. Whisk at low speed until the sugar has dissolved.
Add heavy cream and continue mixing, at low speed.
Add the reserved juice, mashed strawberries and vanilla extract.
Add the vodka (optional). * see note below.
While the mixture is still mixing at low speed, prepare your ice cream machine.
Pour the mixture in the ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and add the remaining strawberries. Mix delicately with a spoon. The ice cream’s texture should be soft and creamy.
Cover and freeze until firm.
* The vodka’s purpose is to prevent the ice cream from becoming too firm in the freezer. Since alcohol doesn’t freeze, it allows your ice cream to retain some of its creamy texture. I like to use vodka because it’s flavorless and will not affect the overall taste of the final product, but every now and then, I play around, mixing different ice cream flavor with different alcohol. My favorite combo by far is vanilla ice cream with rum or Grand Marnier. They’re also great with chocolate.
If alcohol is not your thing, then another trick is to add more sugar. Sugar is also a great stabilizer, so don’t skimp on it. Granulated sugar or corn syrup will do the trick. I read that you can also use gelatin but I will not dwell on it because I’ve never tested it.
I personally like to add alcohol. I’ve found that they work best at stabilizing my home made ice creams and they don’t make them too sweet, which is a big turn off. They can be flavorless (like vodka) or add more depth (rum, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, etc).
Enjoy!
