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!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoying our ice cream cones!

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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?

Mango-Ginger Sorbet

We love mango.  Well, the girls in the family love mango.  We made regular mango sorbet before and loved it. 

But I found a mango-ginger sorbet recipe in Sweet Scoops by Shelly Kaldunski.  As a ginger lover, I had to try it.

It definitely matched my expectations.  The combination of cool and hot (spicy) was definitely tantalizing!  This would be good after an Asian meal, particularly one with curry and/or coconut.  

I added a bit of crystallized ginger to my little bowl of sorbet and that only made it yummier!  In fact, the added heat from the candied ginger brought out the sweetness of the mango all the more. 

I must be honest, though and tell you that the rest of the family doesn’t love it.  The kids said, “Well, hmmmm…we like it.  But not really eat-it-all-the-time like it.  Maybe just once in a while.” 

Mike was not as diplomatic, “I don’t like this one.  I’ll stick to chocolate.”

Well, for those of you with more refined tastes, try this recipe!

(We’ll likely be making the pure-mango version soon…the kids would eat that all the time!)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mango-Ginger Sorbet 

(according to the recipe in Sweet Scoops, this yield 1 quart, thought I only got half of that when I made it)

3/4 cup sugar

2 ripe mangos (about 2lbs total wt.) – I had a bunch of the smaller yellow mangos, so I used 4 of those. 

1 tbs peeled adn grated fresh ginger (do not substitute ground ginger)

2 tbs fresh lime juice

pinch salt

1. Combine sugar and 3/4 cup water.  Boil, stirring occassionally to form a simple syrup
2. Peel and dice mangoes.  Place mango in blender and add cooled syrup, ginger, lime juice and salt.  Blend until very smooth
3. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold (I did it overnight)
4. Pour the cold mango puree into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 
5. Cover tightly and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.