This ice cream is the best hits of summertime all in one tasty bowl! Juicy, sweet and tart strawberries in a cool and creamy dessert that is equally refreshing and satisfying!
Ice cream just hits different when it’s over 100 degrees outside. And enjoying a batch you made yourself is even more rewarding! In this post I will show you how to reduce puréed strawberries, then add them to a custard made by tempering egg yolks. Once you have this simple formula down, you will be able to create endless flavors of delicious homemade ice cream!
Here’s what you need:
I’ve made this exact same batch with both fresh and frozen strawberries, and both were equally good! If you have a plethora of fresh strawberries that you need to use up, by all means use those. Just make sure the amount of strawberries weighs a pound after they have been hulled.
Make the reduced strawberry purée.
Place the thawed frozen or hulled fresh strawberries into a food processor and blend until smooth. A lot of times, when making a fruity custard-based dessert, I strain it to remove seeds, pulp, etc… But in this case I want to keep all of that good stuff in for a couple important reasons. I want the seeds in so it has a distinguishable strawberry mouthfeel and the pulp will add to the viscosity of the ice cream.
Dump the purée and the lemon juice into a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer this for up to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. As it reduces, the bubbles will become smaller, as most of the liquid is evaporated. You will know it is ready when it resembles a jam. You should be able to cut a line through it with a rubber spatula and it will take a few seconds to fill the space back in.
Add the milk, cream, vanilla and salt to the purée and heat until hot but not scalding.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar. It will be very thick at first, but as the sugar dissolves it will loosen up.
Pour small amounts of the hot strawberry cream into the yolk/sugar mixture while stirring. The goal here is to cook the yolks without scrambling them. You are slowly adding small amounts of heat at a time.
Once about a third of the the hot cream is into the yolk, pour the entire yolk/sugar/cream mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining strawberry cream. Heat it on medium to medium-high until it reaches 165 degrees.
Pour the custard into a bowl and cover it with plastic. Allow the plastic to lay directly on top of the custard to prevent a skin form forming. Place the bowl in the fridge and let it cool completely. The custard needs to be as cold as the refrigerator before you try to make ice cream with it or it won’t set.
Churn, baby churn.
Once the custard is sufficiently cold, churn it according to your ice cream maker’s own instructions.
Spoon the ice cream into a container and put it into the freezer for just a bit to finish hardening.
This ice cream does not last long in our house! I love topping it with fresh strawberries. My daughter loves topping it with sprinkles! My husband loves eating it straight from the container! It’s especially delicious drizzled with some homemade strawberry sauce! Yum!
More recipes like this:
Perfect Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 pound frozen strawberries thawed
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Purée the strawberries and pour them into a medium saucepan along with the lemon juice. Simmer the purée for about 30 minutes until fully reduced and jammy, for 25-30 minutes.While its reducing, stir together the yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla in a separate bowl. It will be thick at first, but will loosen up as the sugar dissolves. Once the strawberry purée is completely reduced and has practically no liquid left, stir in the cream and milk. Heat this strawberry cream until it is hot but not scalding.Stir in a small ladleful of the hot cream at a time into the yolk/sugar mixture to slowly cook the eggs without scrambling. Once you have about a third of the cream mixture stirred into the yolk mixture, pour the entire contents of the bowl into the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture and cook over medium to medium-high until it reaches 165 degrees.Pour the custard into a large bowl and cover with plastic. Lay the plastic directly on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Place the custard in the fridge to chill for several hours. Before making the ice cream the custard needs to be as cold as the refrigerator or it won't set. Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and churn for 15 minutes, or however long specified by your ice cream maker's instructions. Spoon the ice cream into a lidded container and place in the freezer to finish hardening up.