A love of ice-cream is common in just about every human. You don't have to think too hard about the long lines of sweating people that form for a few scoops at a local ice-cream shop to observe this. Getting an ice-cream maker had been floating in and out of my mind for the past year, but the thought of another kitchen gadget that was only used a handful of times a year had quelled my excitement. When Ana and I first met up to talk about some sort of collaboration, she regaled me with stories of her new ice-cream maker, a kitchen aid attachment that was low profile and best of all, affordable. My ice-cream maker arrived a few days later (thanks Amazon)!
I have a few memories of homemade ice-cream from growing up, one of which involved seemingly endless hand-cranking in a big tub of ice and salt. Most in home ice-cream makers today work by freezing the unit for up to 24 hours and then churning the ice-cream for you *hallelujah* so that bits of it freeze to the sides of the bowl before being incorporated back into the mixture.
Part Two of my collaboration with Ana from Rosemary and Rye is a summer favorite, homemade strawberry ice-cream. Most ice-cream recipes can utilize the same base with different flavors added in, chocolate, cookie dough, peanut butter, cherry, or in this case, fresh strawberries. One thing I will say about homemade ice-cream is you do have to plan ahead a bit as it involves a bit more than just dumping heavy cream into the ice-cream maker, but if you store your attachment in the freezer it saves a lot of planning time. I've also found that the base can be chilled for just a few hours instead of the 6 or overnight that some recipes call for, so there is no need for ice-cream making to be more than a few hour process, most of which is sitting and watching it churn.
Ana did a great job of doing her research on how to make the silkiest strawberry ice-cream. Find her recipe and other tips for ice-cream making here.
After your ice-cream is done, you can eat immediate (my favorite option) or firm it up a bit more in the freezer for a few hours. I find that we never really make it to this option in my house.
