Strawberry Ice Cream

I expect any day now to go to the market and the strawberries be gone. The season usually ends here in early May. Makes me so sad as I think of strawberries and summer going together. So far there are still a few around, so I keep getting them and throwing together some of our favorite strawberry desserts. Or we just eat them, too. My kids can inhale a kilo of strawberries. I love making this strawberry ice cream for us. Its actually good made with both fresh or frozen ones thankfully. I adapted a recipe in the booklet that came with my ice cream maker. If you don't have an ice cream freezer, try this method instead!

Strawberry Ice Cream

3 cups fresh strawberries (can use frozen)

4 Tbs lemon juice

1 - 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

1 cup evaporated milk

1 1/4 cups whipping cream

2 cups milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Wash, stem, and slice the 3 cups of strawberries into a small bowl. Stir in lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Allow to sit at least one hour so that strawberries can macerate and create a syrup. In a blender, combine remaining sugar (3/4 -1 cup depending on how sweet you want it), milks, cream, and vanilla. Blend well. Add in strawberries and juices and continue to puree until smooth. Refrigerate until cold. Freeze according to ice cream maker directions. This amount is for a 2 quart machine. It will likely not freeze super thick, so place in a container and put in freezer to get it firmer at the end. 

Notes: I go for quickness and ease with this, but it does have little seeds from the strawberries in the ice cream. You could puree the berries separately and strain first if this bothers you. You could also only puree in some of the berries and leave some in pieces in the ice cream. I typically just use whatever milk I have--whole or low fat. If using whole milk you could cut the cream to just one cup and do 1/4 cup extra of the milk.