Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry ice creamSince we keep goats for the milk they give us, and since milk production is highest in the spring shortly after the goats freshen, for the past several months I’ve been on a perpetual quest for Ways To Use Up Goat Milk. Drinking it, using it in cereal, baking and cooking — rice pudding, chocolate pudding, potato soup, pancakes; making yogurt and kefir and cheese. Still our milk refrigerator is bursting at the seams. So the quest continues.

A parallel quest this month is to buy as little food from the store as I can, and to eat as much as possible from our pantry, freezer, garden and animals (eggs, milk). I do have to supplement with some fresh produce, since my garden does not yet provide enough to meet our our needs; but my aim is to eat up all the random partial packages or small amounts of meats that are harder to make a meal from. Anyway, I have some strawberries that I froze, and a few bags of ice that I wanted to use up from the freezer.

Enter ice cream!

Old-fashioned ice cream makerI happen to have a very old, cool (pun intended?) ice cream maker that I got at a garage sale for FREE! I can make six quarts of ice cream at a time, so no one is left out. I love it. I used to have a Cuisanart ice cream maker like this one which was also super cool, but it only made about 6 cups of ice cream at a time…. At some point along the way, that was just not enough ice cream for our growing family; so I donated it. I was thrilled when I found this larger one.  Similar style large machine here.

One of the things we made during our “kitchen day” yesterday was ice cream. Strawberry ice cream. Perfect recipe to use up the strawberries and goat milk, and also use up the extra bag of ice. This recipe makes a lot, but you can halve or quarter it to fit the size of your ice cream maker.

There are lots of possibilities for variation on this recipe! You can substitute other soft fruits for strawberries. Or omit the fruit and add an extra tablespoon of vanilla for old-fashioned vanilla ice cream. Or add chocolate chips and peppermint extract instead of fruit. You get the idea. Just be sure to add your “mix-ins” first, and adjust the amount of milk to bring the mixture up to the fill line on your ice cream maker.

Strawberry Ice Cream

  • 4 eggs
  • 2½ cups sugar
  • 4 cups whipping cream
  • 1 T vanilla
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 cups coarsely pureed strawberries.
  • approximately 4 cups of milk (I used goat, but cow milk is fine)

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar; beat until thickened. Add cream, vanilla and salt. Mix thoroughly. Refrigerate mixture until well chilled.

Puree strawberries so that they are mostly liquid with some texture. Refrigerate.

Pour chilled ice cream mixture into freezer can. Add strawberry puree. Then add milk until the mixture level reaches the max fill line. Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream maker. Makes approximately 1 gallon of the most delicious ice cream imaginable.

Click here for a printable version

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