Strawberry Ice Cream

For as long as I can remember, I have been a lover of all things strawberry.  Strawberry jam, cake, or just served with whipped cream, I loved them.  My mom actually tells a story that when I was really little I went through a phase where all I ate was minestrone soup, mushrooms, and lots and lots of strawberries.  What an interesting assortment of food...but in any case, that was legitimately all that I ate for like, a three month period or something.  Apparently it was just a phase, although I still really like minestrone soup, mushrooms, and strawberries in particular.  I don't think that'll ever be a phase.  Strawberries are delicious in just about everything!

Everything except ice cream.

Wait, what?  No strawberry ice cream?  Are these not photographs of strawberry ice cream?  Yes  these are photos of strawberry ice cream, and yes, I meant it when I said that I like everything strawberry except ice cream.  I honestly don't know why.  It's such a classic flavor that seems to be loved by the majority of people that I've met, as it is delicate and light, and not nearly as heavy as some of the rich chocolate ice creams that I happen to crave 99% of the time.  Strawberry ice cream never did much for me I guess.  My dad happens to love strawberry ice cream, so when there was a pretty nice sale on strawberries at the supermarket, I figured it was time to make some ice cream and get over my anti-strawberry ice cream self.

This recipe for strawberry ice cream converted me.  I don't know what it was to be specific, but there was just something about it that totally blew me away.  This was the best strawberry ice cream I had ever tasted, and my family agreed!  I managed to eat two decent sized scoops of the strawberry ice cream, and all I could think about was getting to eat some more for dessert the next day. 

This ice cream is really simple to make.  It's not a custard-based ice cream, so there's no pesky eggs to deal with, and you can forget about the fear of accidentally scrambling them (something I've definitely done several times).  All you have to do is blend the strawberries, sugar, heavy cream, and sour cream...wait...SOUR cream?  There's sour cream in this recipe?  Trust me, I had my doubts when I chose to make this recipe, as I had never made anything like it before but I'm glad I tried it!  Sour cream is just one of those ingredients that is worth having in your refrigerator at all times, since it can be used in so many different ways, especially for baking!  I really feel like it was the sour cream that made all the difference in this recipe, and I think I may alter it at some point to create different flavors.  But back to what I was saying before.  All you have to do is basically blend everything in a blender, pour into your ice cream maker, and then let it freeze for a couple of hours to harden up.  Can it get any simpler than that?

I'm glad to say that I am officially a strawberry ice cream convert now, and it was all thanks to this recipe.  Now that the weather is finally warming up, I can tell that I'll be making it (among other great ice cream recipes) a lot in the days to come!

Strawberry Ice Cream
recipe from Annie's Eats

Ingredients

1 lb fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vodka
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the sliced strawberries with the sugar and vodka.  Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve.  Cover the bowl, and let stand at room temperature for one hour, stirring occasionally, so that the juice from the strawberries begins to be released.  

Transfer the strawberries to a food processor, and add the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice.  Pulse the mixture briefly, until the mixture is almost smooth, but is still slightly chunky.  Chill in the refrigerator for one hour before freezing in your ice cream maker, as per the manufacturer's instructions.