I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for ICE CREAM!

   

I love living on the East coast. There are so many little things that are totally different than things back home in Utah. For instance, the way people just stick a sign out on their front yard and sell things. Every time I drive somewhere I have the opportunity to pull off the side of the road and pick up a few lettuces, or a dozen eggs, or a loaf of bread, or mmmmmmmm, strawberries!!! I was on my way to take Amelia to the doctor when I saw a great big strawberry shaped sign. I had a carful of whiney kids in need of distraction, so I pulled over. It was a really cute farm stand lined with rows of punnets full of tender, juicy, ruby colored strawberries. *sigh* I kind of didn’t want to get back in the car, I just wanted to plop down there on the lawn and stuff myself full of berries until I could get the screaming/whining ringing buzz from the kids out of my head! We’ve gone through half a dozen punnets (yes, I just really like to use that word!) of berries so far. Most of them we’ve just munched through, but I did make this cake of my mom’s. It’s so very, very, very good! Then I made this ice cream which is perfectly ideal for a warm afternoon lounging in the backyard. It is, as the title suggests, old fashioned. Not the smoothest, creamiest ice cream like, say, this one, but a quick, yummy, rustic ice cream that I think you’ll love too.

 

Old Fashioned Strawberry Ice Cream

2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

3/4 cup of sugar, divided

ice water

1 pint half and half

2 large egg yolks

 

In a medium glass or stainless steel bowl, combine the strawberries and 1/4 cup of the sugar.

Mash those puppies up really, really with a fork or potato masher. You really don’t want big chunks of strawberries left because they will freeze solid and aren’t much fun to encounter in a nice dish of ice cream. Set the strawberry bowl in a bowl of ice water.

In a medium saucepan, bring the half-and-half and 1/2 cup sugar to a simmer, stirring occasionally over medium heat.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then gradually whisk in about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture.

Pour the mixture into the saucepan and cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until steaming hot and frothy, about 3 minutes.

Strain the custard into the bowl of strawberries. Let stand, whisking occasionally until cool.

Pour the cooled custard into the bowl of your ice cream maker. Process for about 20 minutes. If you absolutely can’t wait any longer you can go ahead and eat it now, it will be soft-serve consistency.

For regular ice cream, transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours.

 

 

 

So, I have a quick Works For Me Wednesday tip for you. I used to freeze my ice cream in tupperware containers, which works fine, except that the ice cream tends to get freezer burned around the edges fairly quickly. I’m not sure why, but if you clean out a store-bought ice cream container and freeze your homemade ice cream in it, it tends not to get freezer burn! Sweet!

 

P.S. Please stop by We Are THAT Family to see all the other great tips!

P.P.S. This is my very favorite store-bought ice cream. Oh my goodness.

P.P.P.S. I’m sure if you had the time and inclination you could mod podge your container up all cute-like. I didn’t have the time or inclination :)

P.P.P.P.S. I recently had to replenish my stash of pressed sugar eyeballs. I bought them in bulk and got a great deal, so you can probably expect to see more of them around these parts. We’ve been ‘eyeballing’ everything lately! I do have to say that a mound of scrambled eggs are somewhat disconcerting when they are looking back at you though. On most foods the eyeballs look cute or startled. On scrambled eggs they look insane and horrified. Just thought you should know ;)