I scream, you scream....

I’ve always been a casual fan of ice cream and remember it well from my childhood. We’d spend what seemed like hours churning a homemade ice cream maker at my grandma’s house. You’d have to pack it with ice and then salt down the ice to get it to absorb heat quicker. We’d take turns churning since at eight or ten or whatever age we were, you really had to put some effort into it and completely failed to understand that it doesn’t make ice cream faster if you turn it faster. I blame the ice cream maker for my poor Atari performances, but that’s another story for another day.

As an adult I’ve mostly just eaten frozen yogurt from a certain manufacturer of Cherry Garcia or iced milk from the Queen of Dairy. I didn’t eat ice cream very often and I suppose technically speaking, I still don’t. However, when I moved to the desert I started exploring ways to cool off. First, we bought a house with a pool, something I didn’t want and now can’t image NOT having it available in the summer. Second, I bought an ice cream maker. Ice cream is not exactly listed in the favorable parts of the food pyramid, so I’m careful about how often I make it.

I’ve messed around with several recipes and for quite some time I was convinced that my favorite was vanilla with chunks of cherries and chocolate bars….you know, not at all ripping off that frozen yogurt and ice cream maker mentioned above. Heck, I don’t sell it so it is not a copyright thing, I totally ripped them off and it is good…..no great. I’ve experimented with some other stuff and have made strawberry a few times. In the past, I wanted the ice cream to ready as soon as possible and would cut some corners. The last two times I’ve made it, I didn’t. It turns out, you CAN’T rush perfection.

In my opinion, the perfect ice cream is smooth, doesn’t melt too quickly and has great flavor; in no particular order. I found out the hard way that the only way to make strawberry ice cream smooth is to take your time. If you just throw all the ingredients together and go, you get ice crystals in your fruit chunks. The second secret: remember it is ice cream, not ice milk and no matter what substitutions you make, it is fattening. The only way to combat the calories in good ice cream is moderation and exercise. J I believe in making REAL ice cream and just not eating it as often. A good treat is enjoyed more, not more often.

I’ll include the recipe for my new favorite ice cream (although I think it is technically frozen custard because it has egg yolks), basic strawberry, that has nothing basic about it.

1 cup heavy (whipping) cream

½ cup of ½ and ½ (recipe says “or milk”, but don’t do the milk)

3 egg yolks

¼ cup of sugar for strawberries

½ cup of sugar for egg yolks

1.25 lbs of fresh strawberries, cut fairly small, large chunks can get pretty crunchy

Small squeeze from a lemon (about 1 tablespoon)

Combine the strawberries, ¼ cup of sugar and lemon juice in a bowl about an hour beforehand

In a double boiler or a make shift one (a glass bowl on top of a sauce pan is what I do) heat the cream and half and half until steaming. Even though you’re using a double boiler, it is worth stirring frequently.

In a separate bowl, while the cream is heating, whisk together the egg yolk and sugar. Once the cream is warm, temper the cream into the yolk mixture and then mix everything together once the yolk mixture is up to temperature.

Continue to cook the custard on low for another 5 to 10 minutes. It should only slightly thicken, you don’t want thick custard.

Once you’re done cooking the custard, remove from heat and add the strawberries in. You can either cool it with an ice bath or take your chances with the refrigerator.  I’ve done both, haven’t seen a difference.

Once the mixture is no longer warm to the touch, so room temp or cooler, you can load it into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions from there.

This recipe makes 1 Quart of very rich ice cream, so don’t take too big of a scoop and savor J