Roast the berries to create ice cream with an intense fruit flavor.
ice cream, richmond, virginia, downtown, strawberry
Photo by Tyler Darden.
This version of the recipe we make at Charm School lets the fruit shine through. No worries if you don’t have all the tools—you’ll do great.
- 1 pound fresh strawberries
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream, divided
- 4 large egg yolks
Hull and halve the strawberries (quarter any larger berries). In a medium bowl, toss the berries with ½ cup sugar, lemon zest, and kosher salt. Line a rimmed baking sheet with two layers of aluminum foil. Spread the berries and their juices in a single layer and roast at 400 degrees until the tops look slightly brown and the juice is bubbly, about 10 to 18 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Combine the milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, and ¼ cup sugar in a heavy-bottom pan. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the sugar dissolves or the mixture reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat and set aside. Pour egg yolks into a nonreactive bowl and whisk in ½ cup sugar until slightly thickened. Whisk the cream mixture into the eggs a little bit at a time. Once you have added half of the mixture, pour everything back into the heavy-bottom pan.
Prepare an ice bath by putting ice and water in a larger bowl and setting a smaller bowl inside. Pour 1 cup heavy cream into the empty smaller bowl. Cook the cream mixture over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until it reaches 185 degrees or coats the spatula. Pour the mixture through a strainer into the cream sitting in the ice bath. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, add the berries to the cream and combine with an immersion blender. Put the mixture in the refrigerator, not the freezer, for 2 hours. Then, use your ice cream maker to freeze the mixture according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When it’s done churning, put it in an airtight container and set it in the freezer for at least 6 hours. Finally, enjoy your homemade strawberry ice cream.
Note: To make peach ice cream, peel and slice 1 pound of fresh peaches. Proceed as above, except use 1/3 cup sugar when roasting the fruit.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2020 issue of Virginia Living magazine.
