At the beginning of July, I posted this link with a photo of a recipe in progress. Just to recap, this is the picture that I posted both on the blog as well as on my personal Facebook page:
I got some really interesting guesses and someone did finally figure out what this was a photo of.
This is the base of my very first batch of strawberry ice cream! I typically get into the groove of making ice cream particularly during the summer months. Last summer I made coffee ice cream (which was amazing!) and a double chocolate mint ice cream (vanilla ice cream infused with mint from my chocolate mint plant and then white and dark chocolate chunks in it).
Lately, I've been craving very fruity based things and with two amazing farmers' markets as well as local farms in my reach, how could I not use what I have in my grasp? I'd picked up some local beauties and knew that their sole purpose would be to make ice cream! I found this amazing recipe at Blissfully Delicious that I knew would be just what I was looking for. It's simple, straightforward and looked heavenly. I will admit that beyond the above picture, I don't have any pics except for the finished product (yup, another case of food blogger-cide!) I promise, the recipe will guide you through everything you need to know :)
Here goes:
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Table salt
5 large egg yolks
1 lb. fresh or frozen strawberries, trimmed, pureed, strained, and mixed with 1/2 cup sugar (or less, if your berries are very sweet) - I actually skipped the straining, added some small chunks of strawberries into the puree and I only added about 1/4 cup of sugar as my berries were gorgeous!
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, mix 1 cup of cream with the milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Warm the cream mixture over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and tiny bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with several inches of ice water. Set a smaller metal bowl (one that holds at least 1-1/2 quarts) in the ice water (be sure to use a metal bowl, it helps cool things down even faster). Pour the remaining cup of cream into the inner bowl (this helps the custard cool quicker when you pour it in later). Set a fine strainer on top. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl.
- In a steady stream, pour half of the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling.
- Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heatproof rubber spatula until the custard thickens slightly (it should be thick enough to coat the spatula and hold a line drawn through it with a finger), 4 to 8 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should read 175° to 180°F at this point (My thermometer's battery has died so I just relied on the running my finger on the back of a wooden spoon test and all was well!) Don’t let the sauce overheat or boil, or it will curdle. Immediately strain the custard into the cold cream in the ice bath.
- Cool the custard to below 70°F by stirring it over the ice bath. Stir the strawberry puree into the cooled custard.
- Refrigerate the custard until completely chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight. Then freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Transfer to an air-tight container, and freeze for at least 4 hours or up to 2 weeks.
- NOTE - This recipe made too much mixture for my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker so unfortunately we had to eat some of it like it was a milkshake. Not a single person in my house complained!!!
Hugs to you all and happy Monday!
t
