Fancy a bowl of springtime-infused, fresh strawberry ice-cream?

This sweet, rich ice-cream is simple and quick to make. It is my entry into this month’s Monthly Mingle hosted by Eat the Right Stuff. The theme is ‘Spring Fruit Sensations’ and what can be a better introduction to Spring than bright red strawberries!

Although the plump strawberries recently hit the market it was Kevin’s post at Closet Cooking for a strawberry sour-cream bread which served as my kick in the pants to pick some up. Unfortunately, the consistently horrible produce at my local grocery chain left me disappointed as I stared at half-rotten, slightly moldy berries for $3 a quart. Even at this sale price, I was too disgusted to buy them.

Fortunately, there are usually several neighborhood street corners where local farmers set up stands to sell 6-quart flats, so I decided to drive around and find one. It’s way more strawberries than I needed, but decided I’d figure out what to do with the leftovers. I found a street vendor near our local park and he only charged $10 a flat (and the berries were MUCH more fresh!).

I rushed home and cleaned my berries (eating many in the process). I tend to follow the ice-cream base recipes found in the Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. I realize a few of you will wrinkle your noses and wonder why I haven’t latched onto a copy of David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop. Ben & Jerry came into my life first and therein lies my loyalty. I haven’t reviewed David’s book, but I’m sure it’s as wonderful as everyone says.

Fresh Strawberry Ice-Cream

sweet cream base
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream (or whipping cream)
1 cup milk

strawberries
1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
juice from 1/2 lemon
zest from 1 lemon (optional)

Combine strawberries, lemon juice/zest, and 1/3 cup sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Once strawberries have refrigerated, prepare the sweet cream base. Whisk eggs in a bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the sugar and continue whisking for a minute longer. Add the cream and milk, stir until fully combined.

Combine the strawberry mixture into the sweet cream base. Pour into an ice-cream mixer and mix according to mixer instructions. I use a small Cuisinart ice-cream maker which works pretty well. It took 30 minutes to reach a soft-serve consistency, at which time I put it into the freezer to finish firming up.

I rolled out a sheet of puff pastry and cut into 4 squares. I placed each square into a large muffin tin and baked for 12 minutes. The puff pastry bowls seemed a bit more fun and we enjoyed eating them while watching a movie last night.

Lightly sweet and super creamy, the ice-cream is full of lovely strawberry chunks. The ice-cream is perfect for a sunny Spring day like today. I considered also add in fresh mint that is growing crazy in my garden, but wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I might explore this next time :-)

If you’re looking for tips on selecting an ice cream maker, read this article: Ice Cream Makers: Hand Crank vs. Electric

If you like this dessert, you might also like my recipe for baked peaches with amaretti stuffing, figure-friendly rhubarb crisp, or blueberry-oat bars.