Strawberry Ice Cream

We had plans to make "local" ice cream for Ross' family while they were here but we ran out of time. I say local because we'd frozen a bunch of CSA strawberries a few weeks ago and we have Shatto milk and cream. Of course, they don't grow sugarcane in Missouri so we had to compromise a little ;-) We didn't want the milk to go bad, so we made a batch today and I'm sorry that no one's here to share it!

Ross and I fell in love with fresh strawberry ice cream from Ham Orchards outside Dallas. (P.S. Brittnye, you all need to make a field trip there one Saturday morning this summer). This recipe wasn't quite as good as theirs, but it was pretty close for a first attempt! Next time, I think it needs more strawberry.

Ingredients:
3 cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
4 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 cups 2% milk
2.75 cups cream
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
In a small bowl, conbine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Stir gently and allow to sit for 2 hours.


Strain the berries, reserving the juices. Mash or puree half the berries.


Mix the milk and remaining sugar for 1 or 2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream, reserved strawberry juice, mashed strawberries, and vanilla. Pour mixture into the freezer bowl of ice cream maker.


Mix until thickened, for 20-25 minutes. 5 minutes before mixing is completed, add the remaining sliced strawberries and mix thoroughly.


I love the natural pink color. And it tastes pretty good, too!