Have you ever had fresh strawberry ice cream? It's nothing like the sickly sweet stuff you can buy. It makes you suddenly realize, "Ohhh, this is the flavor store-bought strawberry ice cream is trying to imitate!"


I whipped this up a couple of weeks ago for a friend who was one week post partum and her family. It was an instant success with both the adults and children. I've tried it out on a few other friends since then and it's been pretty much unanimous. The taste is fresh and sweet - but not overly so - with a tart undertone from the fresh berries.

Did I mention? It's also super simple, with only 5 ingredients: strawberries, sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and salt.


Wash and hull the strawberries. Cut then in half (or quarters if they're particularly big. Sprinkle half the sugar over the strawberries and let them sit for 15 minutes. Stir and let sit another 15 minutes or so. The sugar will macerate the berries, making them release their juices and become all syrupy.


Pour the strawberries (and the syrupy juice) into a blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Don't over-mix.

Pour the mixture into the bowl of an ice cream machine and churn until thick and creamy. Serve immediately or freeze for later use.


Two suggestions if you don't have an ice cream machine:

  1. Pour the blended mixture into ice pop molds. They'll be a cross between ice cream and ices.
  2. Blend the macerated strawberries. Set aside. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks fall. Sprinkle in the remaining sugar, and the vanilla and salt and mix until just incorporated. Using a spatula, gently fold in strawberry mixture. Freeze for a couple of hours. Remove, mix and refreeze.

The other question I'm anticipating is how to make this non-dairy. Unfortunately I haven't come up with a good method yet. Coconut milk overpowers the strawberry taste, and non-dairy whip just tastes so chemically. So for now I recommend going dairy. True, you can't eat it after a meat meal, but it's summer - have fun, go a little wild, make dairy ice cream - you won't regret it!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb strawberries, washed, hulled and cut
  • 1/2 cup sugar, divided
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • Seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Wash, hull and halve the strawberries.
  2. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the strawberries and let them sit for 15 minutes. Stir and let sit another 15-20 minutes. The berries will become syrupy.
  3. Blend the strawberries (and the syrup they emitted) with the heavy cream, rest of the sugar, vanilla and salt.
  4. Pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream machine and churn until thick and creamy. Serve immediately or freeze for later.

So... spill the beans. What's your favorite kind of ice cream?