Sweets n' Stitches

The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker that I was so delighted to receive for Christmas has been sadly idle for the last 7 months. Not due to a lack of interest on my part – I’ve been itching to use it for months, but because until now our freezer has been too small to fit the special freezing bowl doh! Now that we have a small chest freezer (hurray!!) I can finally start putting my Cuisinart to good use. With summer at its peak right now, it’s perfect timing.

I have lots of ice cream recipes on my must-try list for the summer but to start with I thought I’d go with a classic. Strawberry Ice Cream, simple and summery. The balsamic vinegar in this recipe might seem strange if you’ve never tried it before. Please trust me when I say that strawberries and balsamic were made for one another. My favourite way to eat strawberries now is soaked for 30 minutes or so with a good sprinkling of icing sugar and a dash of balsamic. You don’t taste the balsamic in this recipe, it just makes the strawberry flavour stronger, fuller, more intense with a pleasant edge to it.

Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and roughly chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups cream
• 3 tablespoons custard powder

Combine the strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat. Let the berries and sugar come to a low boil. Remove from heat once the berries are falling apart and it starts to reduce and get syrupy. Blend or mash to break the strawberries down further, or leave chunky if preferred. Set aside to cool. In another saucepan heat the cream and 3/4 cup of the milk over a medium low heat. Dissolve the custard powder in the remaining 1/4 cup of milk. Once the milk and cream is hot, gradually stir in the custard powder milk mixture. Stir as the custard begins to thicken. It should thinly coat the back of the spoon when done. Stir in the strawberries and set aside to cool. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before churning.

You can serve the ice cream straight from the churn, soft-serve style (as pictured above) or spoon it into a container and store in the freezer for a few hours until it reaches a firmer consistency.

Update: I have amended the milk to cream ratio above as the original recipe (using equal quantities of each) was a little icy once in the freezer for a day or two.