A tasty, light ice cream, perfect for those hot summer days. This can be made with fresh or frozen strawberries. Simple and quick to make.

If you haven’t read my post on the ice cream base, check it out for more information.

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
5 oz heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
2 – 3 cups strawberries

Directions

Put the strawberries and half of the sugar in a pot. Slowly bring to a boil and then simmer for up to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Put 1 cup of the milk in a pot with the remaining sugar and heat just enough to dissolve the sugar while stirring. Transfer to another container and place in the refrigerator to cool completely. Add the remaining milk, the heavy cream, and the vanilla and put back in the refrigerator.

Put about half of the strawberries, and any strawberry liquid, in a blender and puree them. Transfer to another container and place in the refrigerator to cool completely. Put the remaining whole strawberries in the refrigerator.

(There’s a theme here: Get everything very cold before putting it in the ice cream machine. Even a little time in the freezer helps.)

After the ingredients are cold, stir the pureed strawberries into the milk/cream mixture. Set up your ice cream machine, pour in the base, and start it up. Once the ice cream is ready, transfer it to a 2 quart tub while folding in the remaining strawberry pieces. (Don’t be too aggressive or you will lose the air that was churned in by the ice cream maker.)

Cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the ice cream and put the lid on the tub. Place in the freezer for several hours or overnight.