Sleepover Strawberry Ice Cream

We had our very first sleepover at our house, and we made strawberry ice cream together.  Our little guest had never made ice cream before, so this was an introduction to our family’s obsession. 

Thankfully, all that ice cream didn’t  keep the girls up all night!

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1 pound strawberries, hulled and chopped

2 tbs lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1.  Combine strawberries with lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar.  Allow the strawberries to macerate, about an hour.

2.  Combine milk and sugar, whisking until the sugar is dissolved.

Getting ready to whisk!!

3.   Add vanilla and heavy cream, continue to whisk until well combined. 

All three girls, hard at work.  S6 is in the back ground, mashing away while G8 is with our guest, measuring the cream.

 

 

4.  Pour in the liquid from the strawberries. Reserve the strawberries.

5.  Churn ice cream, per manufacturer’s directions

 

My girls waiting for mom to get the ice cream into the ice cream maker!

 

 

6.  Add the strawberries to the ice cream during the last 5 minutes of churning. (Sometimes the pound of strawberries produces a little too much strawberry; we use the excess for a topping.)

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Enjoying our ice cream cones!

Invent A Flavor

One of the perks of  making your own ice cream is customizing the flavors.  The girls recently wrote about their (hypothetical) flavor inventions. 

G8: If I could make up any ice cream flavor, I would make Hamburger Ice Cream with French Fry Sprinkles!!  I would make it because I like both hamburgers and french fries!!  Maybe I should put little cheese bits inside too!

I don’t think people would buy it if it were in a store, though. Do you?

S6, Daddy and I are going to have to convince Mommy to let us eat it for breakfast.  We haven’t had much luck, so never mind that! 

S6: If I could invent a new ice cream flavor, it would be Egg Ice Cream with Hashbrown Sprinkles.  I am going to eat it all the time at breakfast.

These weird flavors sound like something they’d make on Iron Chef.  There’s definitely a parental veto on these flavors.  (Though French Fry Sprinkles sound yummy.  Sort of like dipping your fries in ice cream.)

What flavor would you invent?

Peach-Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

When school let out a few weeks ago, I celebrated with a peach ice cream.  I had peach on the brain (does that make me fuzzy brained?), and decided to make a peach variation myself. 

I’m not quite confident enough to re-create a flavor without a recipe.  But I did find this Peach Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream recipe in Shelly Kaldunski’s Sweet Scoops. 

I made it when we had a house full of guests…it was well received by all.  Sorry, I was too distracted by everything going on to take photos. 

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1 cup raspberries

1/4 cup raspberry jam or preserves

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/4 pounds peach (I used 5 ripe peaches), halved and pitted

1 cup heavy bream

1/3 cup creme fraiche

1/4 tsp salt

yields approx 1-1/2 quarts

1.  Combine raspberries and jam in a bowl.  Mash down the raspberries.  Mixture should be chunky.  Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready.

2.  In a large, deep frying pan, combine sugar and water and bring to boil over medium heat.  Stir occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.  (Takes about 5 minutes.)

3.  Add the peaches, skin side up and simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn the peaches over and continue to cook until fruit softens and the skin loosens.  (about 5 minutes for me).    Remove from heat and let the peaches cool to room temperature.  remove the skins from the peach and toss.

4.  Put the peaches and the cooking liquid into your blender or food processor.  Add the remaining ingredients and puree until mixture is completely smooth. 

5.  Chill the mixture until very cold (4 hours minimum, up to 3 days)

6.  Pour the peach-cream mixture into the ice cream maker per manufacturer’s instructions. 

7.  Once the ice cream is done churning, spoon half of it into a freezer safe container, and top with several spoonfuls of the raspberry mixture.  stir gently in a figure eight motion to swirl the raspberry into the ice cream.  Repeat with the remaining ice cream and raspberry. 

8.  Cover tightly and freeze until firm.

Note: While swirling, I had extra raspberry mixture, which i just kept and used as a topping.

Also, it was very “guest friendly” to make the peach base ahead of time, and then pour it into the ice cream maker when everyone was ready to stand around and watch (and taste).

Cantaloupe Sorbet

A mom’s gotta get those kids eating fruit, so I convinced the kids we should make a Cantaloupe Sorbet.  They were skeptical, but were game to try it once they got involved in the preparation.

This recipe was originally in the June/July issue of Taste of Home Magazine, but the recipe portion below was written by the girls.

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1.  Put one cup  of water in a pot.

2.  Put one cup of sugar in the same pot

3.  Heat the simple syrup until boiling.

4.  Let the simple syrup cool.

5.  Cut 4 cups of cantaloupe. 

6.  After the simple syrup is cooled down, combine all the ingredients in the blender.  Blend until smooth. [the original recipe called for a food processor, but the blender worked for us!]

7.  Put cantaloupe mixture into the ice cream maker for about 25 minutes.

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Our end product:

OK, I admit, this was not our favorite recipe.  First,  the sorbet ended up being more of an ice than a sorbet.  One of the girls was in charge of the simple syrup, and I didn’t check to see if it was thick enough.  I think if the syrup were a little thicker, it wouldn’t be quite so icy. 

Also, it was too cantaloupe-y.  I think making it an ice cream would have tempered the melon-y sweetness.  Maybe next time we’ve got some extra cantaloupe, we’ll try cantaloupe ice cream.  I found a very yummy sounding recipe from Ben and Jerry’s!

I’ve seen cantaloupe paired with prosciutto.  (I’ve never tried it though…prosciutto doesn’t seem all that kid-friendly.)  I wonder if little bits of bacon would be a yummy topping with cantaloupe ice cream?