Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

So, I have a bit of a problem.

I am using my ice-cream maker obsessively.

And I’m justifying it with my own twisted logic.

You see, since Rob is lactose intolerant there are very few treats I can enjoy, because let’s face it, I’m going to get fat as hell if I’m baking whole batches of cookies and brownies for myself. But I can freeze ice-cream and eat it in reasonable amounts and all will be well with the world. You know, except for the fact that I probably don’t, at any single time, need five different options of ice-cream and sorbet to choose from.

But that’s cool, I’ll just give some to my brother and everything’s good.

Logic.

So, here is the first of many ice-cream recipes to come to you from my incredibly overstocked freezer. This strawberry ice-cream is truly the best I’ve ever had. I have a long-running love affair with fresh strawberry ice-cream since it is served at the Old Cazadero BBQ every year. This, I must say, is on-par if not better. Either way it brings back those late summer memories and I just can’t get enough of it.

Fresh Strawberry Ice-Cream

makes about 1 quart

adapted from Annie’s Eats

1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (save one or two whole)

¾ cups sugar

1 Tbs. vodka or kirsch, optional

1 cup sour cream

1 cup heavy cream

½ tsp. fresh lemon juice

Place the sliced strawberries, sugar and vodka in a medium bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover and let sit at room temperature for one hour.

Combine strawberry mixture, sour cream and heavy cream in a blender. Puree until mostly smooth. Refrigerate until very cold (about 1 hour).

Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. Chop and smash reserved strawberry and stir in during the last five minutes of freezing. Transfer to freezer to set completely. (I highly recommend using Ball freezer containers. They have them at Walmart next to all the Ball canning supplies.)