Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream!

ICE CREAM! HOMEMADE ICE CREAM!

Yeah I know. Sounds exotic, esoteric.. who makes ice cream at home? That is something you always buy right?







Ice cream takes a while but really is not all that hard. My Aunt Rita used to wax poetic about the homemade ice cream of her youth. "The best ice cream I remember", she used to say, "was made with condensed milk and strawberries".

To this day I wish I had that recipe. Baring that I went to one of my cookbooks, "Simply Strawberries" and tried my hand at their recipe. It wasn't that hard and boy is it delicious!




FRENCH STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM               
2eggs                                                        
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
4 cups light cream , divided in 2 cup measures
(I used heavy cream, yum!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar


STRAWBERRIES
In a bowl, put in the sliced strawberries with the 1/2 cup sugar and refrigerate for up to 24 hours to produce juice.


CREAM BASE
Beat eggs with your mixer until light and foamy. Set aside.  In a saucepan, combine sugar, flour an salt. Gradually stir in 2 cups of the cream. Cook and stir over low heat taking care not to scald cream. Cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to thicken 10-15 mins.

Temper your eggs by gently putting in a small amount of hot cream into the beaten eggs, stirring as you incorporate it. When the container the eggs come in becomes warm to the touch, add the remaining cream. Put the entire mixture back in the saucepan and cook for one minute more. Remove from heat and chill until completely cool. Add the remainder 2 cups of cream and vanilla.






Drain strawberry "juice" into the cream base and process in your ice cream maker for 20-40 mins or per your ice cream maker's manual.   When the ice cream is finished, it will still be very soft and now mix in the reserved strawberries from your "juice". Put in a freezer safe container and freeze for several hours.

Homemade ice cream is so far better than store bought and it's a great project to do with your children. Make some before this summer is through and you'll be glad you did!