Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream

Though I've had my ice cream attachment for my stand mixer for several months now, I hadn't used it until summer was in full swing. I am kind of proud of myself for having the restraint to not drown myself in my own home made ice cream. 

Around here, Blue Bell is king, and with every right. It is heaven, so I have set out to create their flavors at home. Vanilla went great (I will note at the bottom how to use this recipe to create the copycat of theirs), chocolate was even better, and this was delicious too. Get your freezer ready for some ice cream!!

Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream

2 1/2 cups half and half

2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

10 egg yolks

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups frozen, thawed, smashed strawberries plus

3 tbsp sugar

In a large sauce pan, add cream and half and half and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Separately, whisk together sugar and egg yolks until totally combined and light in color in a large bowl.

Once cream is hot, turn off the heat, and while constantly whisking, slowly add individual full ladles of hot cream to the bowl to temper the eggs until nearly half of the cream has been mixed into the egg yolks and sugar. 

Add all the egg/cream mixture to the pot of remaining cream and turn on burner to medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook the anglaise until it evenly coats the back of a spoon and when you run your finger through middle, it holds the line (if you have a thermometer, it will be about 175 degrees). Cool to room temp and add vanilla. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. 

While the ice cream is churning, smash the strawberries with a fork until mostly broken up, but still slightly chunky (let it be noted that the 1 1/2 cups measurement is POST smashing). Sprinkle on remaining 3 tbsp of sugar and allow to macerate for the duration of the ice cream making. Once the ice cream is prepared, stir in the strawberries and liquid until well incorporated. 

Transfer to your desired containers and freeze for 5-6 hours to harden. Enjoy! This recipe yields a generous 2 quarts of ice cream. 

~For vanilla: leave out the last two ingredients and adjust vanilla to 2 1/2 tbsp. 

~For chocolate: leave out last 2 ingredients and add 3/4 cup cocoa powder to cream and half and half when warming.