Friday, April 23, 2010

Strawberry Custard Ice Cream

There has been no lack of desserts here at our house this past week.
It all started with the Rocky Road Fudge.

A few days after making the fudge, I baked cookies because
we were having friends over for dinner.
They were Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Toasted Coconut Cookies
and they looked like this:




After the cookies came something even better -
Strawberry Custard Ice Cream made by my husband.

Strawberry Custard Ice Cream
by Dorothy Hagerman

6 tablespoons flour
3 cups sugar divided
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
6 eggs
1 1/ pints fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 cups heavy cream or half & half cream
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Dash red food coloring (optional)


In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, and salt until well blended (a wire whisk works great). Blend in milk and eggs until well blended. Over medium-low heat, cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture (custard) thickens and will coat the back of a metal spoon with a thin film, approximately 7 to 10 minutes. On your instant-read cooking thermometer, the temperature should reach between 165 and 180 degrees F. NOTE: Do not let the mixture boil or it will curdle. If, of course by accident, your custard base does curdle, immediately remove from heat and place in a blender; process until smooth.

Remove from heat and let custard cool. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours but ideally for 24 hours. NOTE: Cool quickly by setting pan in ice or cold water and stirring for a few minutes. This aging process will give the mixture better whipping qualities and produce ice cream with more body and a smoother texture.

In a large bowl using a potato masher, crush strawberries with lemon juice and the remaining 1 cup sugar. Let stand for 1 hour.

After custard mixture has aged and is well chilled, remove from refrigerator and add and stir together half & half cream, vanilla extract, food coloring (optional), and strawberry mixture. The ice cream mixture is now ready for the freezing process.

Transfer the mixture into your ice cream maker can and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.












This is the BEST homemade ice cream!!

1 comment:

Chris said...

yum! looks perfect for the warm weather. Isn't making ice cream at home fabulous?