ICOTW: Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream

This ice cream a week project has been great for many reasons.  First because it's gotten me a lot more comfortable with making my own ice cream.  I've definitely used our ice cream maker more in the last 2 summers than in the first 8 years we owned it.  Second, I've discovered many wonderful favorites (like this and this and this, just to name a few).  Third, I've reallllly cleaned up my ice cream Pinterest board since I've made almost every recipe and even had to go looking for more to finish out this summer.  And finally, our freezer is never short on homemade ice cream which makes a nightly treat almost mandatory to keep it from overtaking the freezer.

As I type this we have 4 kinds here and one at the lake.  As well as some Magnum bars which we still reserve for hard work days around the house.  Even though we have about 4 boxes so maybe we need to relax our standards a bit there.  Although, when we're already eating delicious ice cream almost every night, store-bought ice cream bars aren't that much of a treat.

I've made so much ice cream this summer that I forget exactly what we have made without referencing the blog.  I thought this might be the first strawberry one, but nope.  Already did Strawberry Honey Frozen Yogurt.  Oops.  That was a 4 ingredient ice cream and this one just barely beats it in terms of number of ingredients.  Barely.  It's so easy and that's my favorite kind to fill my freezer with.

Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
-1lb fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
-¾ cup sugar
-1 TB vodka (optional, but helps with consistency)
-1 cup sour cream
-1 cup heavy cream
-½ tsp lemon juice

Directions
1) Slice the strawberries and combine in a bowl with the sugar and vodka, if using.  Stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved and then cover and leave at room temperature for about an hour, stirring occasionally if you remember (I didn't...I went for a run.)

2) Pour strawberries into a blender or food processor and add the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice.  Pulse just a few times, leaving larger strawberry chunks but combining all the ingredients.  Chill in the fridge for about an hour.

3) Churn according to the instructions on your ice cream maker.  Serve immediately or transfer to the freezer until more firm.

Our Thoughts
This was some good stuff.  It was so easy to make, taking mostly things I already had in my fridge (besides fresh strawberries) and took so little work.  It is super creamy and rich but not overly so.  Definitely a good, standard but wonderful, ice cream recipe to have!

Source: David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, via Annie's Eats

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In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!