I finally made ice cream again--Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry Ice Cream
Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker Instruction/Recipe Booklet Copyright 1999

1 ½ cups strawberries, washed and hulled
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 ½ cups whole milk
2 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
I added a dash of salt

Finely chop strawberries in a food processor; reserve. (This will yield 1 cup of chopped strawberries.)

Combine cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook until mixture almost boils, 5 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

Meanwhile beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract in a small bowl until light yellow and smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons hot cream/milk mixture and stir until combined. Gradually add egg yolk mixture to warm cream mixture, stirring continuously to prevent the eggs from curdling. Cook over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 3-4 minutes. Cool completely (covered in refrigerator overnight or over an ice bath for 30 minutes). When cool, add reserved strawberries and stir until well combined. Pour into freezer bowl, turn the machine on and let mixture thicken 20-25 minutes. If desired, transfer ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Makes 10 ½ cup servings. Per serving: 216 cal, 15 g carbs, 3 g pro, 16 g fat, 95 mg chol, 33 mg sodium
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Since I decided not to make the shortcakes last week, I had a carton of heavy cream that needed a job. I also had some leftover strawberries. I've been wanting to drag out my ice cream machine (I haven't used it in at least two years) so I came to the obvious conclusion and made strawberry ice cream.

I followed the directions and 'finely chopped' the strawberries, although my instinct was to purée them. I wish I had followed my instinct. Chunks of fresh fruit in homemade ice cream tend to get a bit icy and that was the case here. Otherwise, this was very good but the icy bits in there really bothered me. I can't wait to try some other recipes now that I have the machine out.

I tend to defer to the recipe booklet that came with my machine since the Cuisinart ice cream machine makes smaller batches than a traditional ice cream machine and most ice cream recipes I come across are just too large. It's a small booklet but it does have a good selection of recipes in it.

Oh my did I spend a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend. It was slightly cooler this weekend so maybe that had something to do with it. I made this ice cream, I baked, I pickled and I made part of tonight's dinner. Stay tuned for details.

Blast From The Past: Homemade Noodles from January 2007. The days are starting to get shorter in this part of the world. That depresses me. I'm trying to remember that there are good things about cold weather, like homemade soup.

Question of The Day: What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?