How do you keep strawberries from freezing in ice cream?

Cooking the strawberries before adding them to the ice cream base helps reduce the water content and makes them a better texture when frozen.

Can you add frozen fruit to homemade ice cream?

You can use frozen fruit instead of fresh fruit when making homemade ice cream. I usually prefer to cook fruit before adding it to an ice cream base to help reduce the water content and concentrate the flavors.

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

Description

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream is unique and absolutely delicious paired with strawberry sauce and toasted almonds.

Ingredients

Scale

For strawberries:

2 quarts strawberries, hulled and quartered*
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, plus more to taste
Pinch salt

Ice cream base:

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 tsp kosher salt (1/8 tsp fine salt)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

Almond topping (optional):

1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 tsp butter
Flakey salt (or salt of choice), to taste

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Instructions

Cook the strawberries. Place strawberries, sugar, balsamic and salt in a large, wide pan. Turn heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until strawberries soften and juices thicken to the consistency of maple syrup, about15-20 minutes. To better preserve the texture of the strawberries, remove them from the pan using a slotted spoon after 10-15 minutes. Then continue to reduce the strawberry juices until thick and syrupy. Remove from pan and stir together juice and strawberries.
Puree strawberries. Depending on what you prefer, either puree all of the strawberries or keep some whole. I like to separate one cup of strawberries sauce to keep unblended. Blend the remaining sauce in a food processer or blender. Reserve 1/2 to 3/4 cup of pureed strawberry sauce for topping. Store the topping in the fridge until ready to use.
Make ice cream base. Place a sieve over a large bowl and set aside. Place cream and salt in a medium sized pot and bring to a simmer.
Mix eggs and sugar. While the cream heats up, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick, pale and creamy. This is ribbon stage. You should be able to draw a figure ‘8’ pattern in the bowl before it dissolves.
Temper eggs and cook base. Slowly pour in one ladle of the cream into the egg mixture, while whisking. Gradually pour the tempered eggs into the pot with the cream, while whisking. Constantly whisk over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, or until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Sieve and cool. Immediately pour ice cream base through sieve into the bowl. Stir in reserved, cooked strawberries. Stir in vanilla. Taste and add 2-3 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar to intensify the flavor, if desired. Place bowl on top of a wire rack and allow to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill in the fridge at least 4 hours or overnight.
Freeze. Freeze custard in ice cream machine, according to manufacturer’s instructions. Eat immediately (the ice cream will be very soft) or allow to set up another 1-3 hours in the freezer.
Cook almonds. Add almonds to a sauté pan and turn heat to medium. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, or until almonds start to sizzle and turn a pale, golden color. Add butter to the pan. Melt and toss to combine. Cook another 2-3 minutes or until some nuts are golden brown and some are a deeper brown. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle over flakey salt.
Serve. Scoop ice cream into serving dishes. Spoon over reserved strawberry sauce and sprinkle over toasted nuts. Enjoy.

Notes

You can substitute with frozen, defrosted strawberries. There’s no need to strain the juice. Just make sure to cook longer, if needed to thicken the juices.

Store the strawberry sauce for at least 5-7 days in the fridge.

After the almonds cool, store them in an airtight container such as tuberware or a jar, for 2-3 days at room temperature.

The ice cream will stay fresh in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2-4 months.

If eating ice cream after it’s frozen solid, leave container on the counter for 10-15 minutes before scooping.