Simple homemade vanilla ice cream, swirled with fresh strawberry puree! I love strawberry ice cream, but I love this even more - you get to taste the creamy vanilla and the fruity strawberry - all gently swirled together! (Makes about 1.5 quarts)
Puree Strawberries in a food processor or blender (for smooth texture) or just mash up (for chunky strawberry texture).
optional: strain strawberry puree if you don't like the seeds in your smooth puree.
Place pureed or mashed berries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until reduced by 1/3.
Refrigerate until fully chilled before adding to ice cream.
Prepare Vanilla Ice Cream Base:
(See notes for non-heating version.) In small saucepan, over medium-low heat. Add sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of the half and half. Heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved or until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. (Don't boil) Let mixture cool.
Into the cooled mixture, add remaining half and half, heavy cream and vanilla. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or until fully chilled before churning ice cream.
Churning the Ice Cream:
Follow directions for your specific ice cream maker to make ice cream.
When using KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment: Make sure bowl is completely frozen. I freeze for 24 hours with my freezer on the coldest setting. Then attach to mixer.
With frozen bowl attached to mixer, dasher and adaptor in place - run mixer on "stir" speed and pour in chilled ice cream mixture.
Churn for about 20-25 minutes or until "soft-serve" texture. During the last minute of churning, slowly pour in most of the strawberry puree. (I like to reserve a little to swirl in the top of the ice cream before freezing.)
Enjoy as soft-serve texture or transfer ice cream to freezer safe container (swirl on the reserved puree) and freeze for 2-4 hours to "ripen" or firm-up for scooping. (I try to choose a "wide-enough" container to make scooping easier.)
Notes
Half & Half Substitute:
2/3 cup low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream = 1 cup half & half(For the recipe - I use 1 2/3 cup low-fat milk + 3/4 cup heavy cream (close enough to the ratio)
Vanilla Bean Paste:
Vanilla Bean Paste contains tiny little flecks of real vanilla bean - it will give your ice cream a delicious vanilla taste with tiny little flecks of vanilla bean. You can find vanilla bean paste in some grocery, specialty and online stores. I have used the Nielsen-Massey brand. If you don't have or can't find (or don't prefer the little vanilla flecks) use vanilla extract!
Non-Heating Version:
Heating the half and half with the sugar in this recipe - is a way to ensure that the sugar is completely dissolved. I've also had success with dissolving the sugar into the half and half by using my hand mixer (with regular/turbo beaters) on low speed. Mix until all the sugar is dissolved. (usually you can hear it scraping on the bottom of the bowl.)
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