No Churn Strawberry Ice Cream
Summer Has Begun! Time for No Churn Strawberry Ice Cream
It’s the unofficial start of summer, friends, and we are celebrating with no churn strawberry ice cream. How do you feel about summer? There are some aspects I love: more daylight, all the living greenery, the sound of birds. But the heat. If you do not live in a humid climate, let me tell you, it is not awesome. And if you have the fairest of fair complexions well, yikes. I have been known to faint. Which means there is only one thing to do: hide in the shade with some delicious no churn ice cream.
A Weak Freezer and a No Churn Answer
A couple of years ago, I used an Amazon gift certificate to buy myself an ice cream maker. My husband loves ice cream and eats quite a bit. It seemed like a good investment. What I should have bought was a new refrigerator. My freezer wasn’t cold enough to freeze up the container that makes it all work. The machine is now in the basement and no churn ice cream it is.
No Churn Strawberry Ice Cream is the Best of the No Churns – So Far
No churn ice cream uses a very simple base, sweetened condensed milk and heavy whipping cream. This same combo can be used for tons of different flavors. Strawberry is such a perfect summer flavor that I wanted to start with that. This recipe uses both fresh strawberries and freeze dried. Chopped strawberries, I discovered, will give a great texture, but the freeze dried strawberries are what give it the very berry flavor. I found these in the supermarket produce aisle. You can also order freeze dried strawberries online.
Easy Peasey
Letting your fresh, chopped strawberries sit in a bowl with a little sprinkling of sugar will make them softer and sweeter. After that, mixing up the ingredients takes only a few minutes. I added the strawberries – freeze dried and fresh – to the sweetened condensed milk and stirred in a bit of vanilla and the juice of a lemon. The milk is very sweet and that lemon will tone it down. Pop the whole thing into a glass loaf pan and seal it with plastic wrap. After a few hours in the freezer, you will have a fresh, delicious ice cream made with ingredients you can actually recognize.
If you need me, I’ll be hiding in the shade thinking of new flavors. Up next: no churn mocha chip!
No Churn Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 16 oz fresh strawberries
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup freeze dried strawberries
- 1 lemon
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Wash the strawberries and remove the green leaves.
- Chop the strawberries. I used slightly larger pieces, generally between 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch.
- Put the strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle with sugar.
- Let the strawberries sit for about 1/2 hour.
- While the strawberries are soaking, prepare the freeze dried strawberries. Mine were sliced (like in Special K), so I put them in a large Ziploc and whacked them with a rolling pin. In the end you want a somewhat powdery consistency.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the strawberries to a medium bowl. You don't want to add too much liquid to the mixture.
- Add the sweetened condensed milk and freeze dried strawberries to the prepared strawberries. Stir.
- Add the vanilla and stir. Set the bowl aside.
- Put the heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl and add the whisk to the mixer.
- Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. This means when you turn over the beater, the cream stands up. DO NOT OVER BEAT THE CREAM. Whipping cream too much will turn it into butter.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture.
- Taste your mixture. If you find it too sweet (as I did), add in the juice of the lemon. Start with a little, taste, and repeat until you have the flavor you want. I had a somewhat small lemon and used the entire thing.
- Pour your mixture into a glass loaf pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. You can use a different shape pan if necessary.
- Wrap the dish in plastic wrap and freeze until firm. It took me about 8 hours. This photo shows the after effects of our attacking it with spoons.
- Note from an older person: the strawberries do freeze fairly solid, so watch out for your teeth!
