Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream

Summer is here and so is my enthusiasm for making homemade ice cream! With so many flavor possibilities, I have a hard time deciding which to try next. Back and forth I go in my mind- should I make something chocolatey? fruity? vanilla based with lots of mix-ins? what mix-ins should I use?

Do you see my problem? Ok, so this is really not a terrible problem to have. I can always make another batch soon. 

This week, after much deliberating, I decided to take advantage of summer’s fresh strawberries and make this strawberry ice cream. This recipe is a little different from your typical strawberry ice cream in that it has sour cream in it. My first reaction was to skip over this recipe in The Perfect Scoop, but I’ve seen this ice cream appear on many of the blogs I read, always with rave reviews. I decided to go for it and was not disappointed. The sour cream simply makes the ice cream extra creamy, but I don’t think I’d know it was an ingredient if no one told me.

I do have two notes on this recipe. First, I recommend processing the strawberry/cream mixture until it is just about completely smooth. Maybe this is just a personal preference, but I don’t really care to have any frozen strawberry bits in my ice cream (because they are completely frozen if you eat this straight from the freezer). Second, this ice cream is best eaten soon after it’s made. I had a taste right after it finished churning, and I preferred that softer texture over the more frozen texture once it had been in the freezer for a day or more. This ice cream seems to freeze harder than others I’ve made (possibly because I omitted the tablespoon of alcohol called for in the recipe).

If you’re looking for a good strawberry ice cream recipe to add to your repertoire, give this creamy strawberry ice cream a try.

One year ago:  Chocolate Banana Bread and Plum Raspberry Sorbet

Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream

Printable Recipe

Makes about 1 1/4 quarts

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vodka or kirsch (I omitted)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Slice the strawberries and toss them in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. (If omitting the alcohol, just sprinkle in a little water with your fingers to help the sugar begin to dissolve.) Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring every so often.
2. Pulse the strawberries and their liquid with the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until nearly smooth.
3. Refrigerate for 1 hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Recipe slightly adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

This post is linked to Sweets for a Saturday and These Chicks Cooked