strawberry ice cream!

I made the strawberry ice cream last night. I was so afraid it wouldn't work, but it actually did. Almost.

I made the recipe exactly as it said in the book that came with my ice cream maker, but somehow there ended up being too much ice cream mix for the bowl. After it churned for a little while I ended up spooning some out so it wouldn't overflow. But then the strawberries had to be added and there was just too much mix and not enough bowl. So that affected the freezing a bit. I ended up stopping the machine after 35 mins (20-30 recommended mixing time) with a milkshake like consistency in the middle and a hard freeze at the edges. At that point it was really good. Soft and creamy and delicious like only things made with no regard to fat content are. I probably could have gotten a straw and consumed the whole bowl. But I put it in the freezer overnight.

I tried some this morning. It was really hard frozen. I think this is because i have the freezer cranked way up. I didn't really have time to wait for it to thaw a bit, so i had a few bites, they weren't nearly as creamy and delicious as last night, and I'm afraid some ice crystals have formed, but I can't really confirm.

So, I'll be experimenting. First order of business, cut the recipe down by 10-20%. Secondly, store ice cream in the less cold freezer.

Anyway, Ice cream making is super fun (for now). You have no idea how happy I was when the darn mix started to freeze. And while I did make a medium sized sticky mess, the clean up was SO much easier than the deep frying clean up.

There's probably a heart attack in my future. Heavy cream is just so good! I may have to start excercising.

UPDATE: I ate some of the ice cream I brought to work. The freezer here is less cold, and the consistency is pretty good. I didn't chop the strawberries small enough though, they're icy and cold when you bite into them, the way frozen strawberries are.