Food and Cooking

Allow me to introduce my wife's ice cream recipe. Obviously, your base is going to be different, but I'll post the whole recipe here to make sure I don't miss anything.

Strawberry Ice Cream with Lemon and Mint Note: This is more than one batch worth of ice cream (approximately 1 ½ batch for the size ice cream maker I have at home). Fill your ice cream maker to the level recommended by your machine’s instructions. Don’t worry about your mix sitting in the fridge while waiting for your bowl to re-freeze, it just allows the flavors to meld more. Don’t worry about the berries getting too soft. It is ice cream, they will be slightly more firm than everything else, no matter how long it sits. Since my household likes lemon and mint, the below listed amounts are minimum, we tend to use more. Once your ice cream is ready, it finishes beautifully with a bit of huckleberry balsamic vinegar poured over the top when served.

Ingredients: Approximately 32 ounces by volume of fresh strawberries, washed and stems removed
3 tablespoons of lemon juice, more if lower quality(or to taste)
1 cup sugar, divided (into 0.25 cup and 0.75 cup)
1.5 cup heavy cream
0.5 cup whole milk
2 tablespoon fresh mint, minced (or to taste)
Pinch salt
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
approximately 1 lemon’s worth of zest, finely grated (or to taste)

Directions:

1. In mixing bowl, blend approximately half the strawberries with a stick blender. Chop remaining strawberries (to slightly larger than chocolate chip, so that it does not clog the ice cream machine) and add to same mixing bowl. Add 0.25 cup sugar and lemon juice. Stir together. Set aside in fridge for at least an hour to macerate.

2. In a small saucepan, warm the dairy, 0.75 cup sugar, salt and mint. Warm the milk mixture, whisking to incorporate flavors.

3. Whisk egg yolks together with vanilla extract; then temper: when the milk mixture is warm, slowly spoon into the egg yolks, whisking to keep from cooking eggs. Repeat several times until eggs and milk mixture are approximately the same temperature, then whisk yolks into the mixture. On medium to medium-low heat, thicken mixture until it coats the back of a spoon. Let cool.

4. Combine milk mixture with strawberry mixture and lemon zest and mix well. Chill in fridge until cold enough for your ice cream maker (at least an hour).

5. Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer instructions.

6. Serve immediately for soft serve, or place in Freezer for firmer texture.

(extremely loosely based off of “Strawberry Ice Cream Like Ben and Jerry’s”, and “Homemade Ice Cream: Perfect Custard Base”)