Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream — Thank Goodness for an Easy “No Cook” Recipe

I love homemade ice cream with all the wonderful flavor options. And, this recipe may be my “surprise” ice cream recipe of the year. I am especially fond of cooked custard-type ice creams — they are rich, flavorful and smooth. Custard ice creams, however, can be time consuming, work-intensive and technical. Sometimes, I am in the mood for a quick and easy, “no cook” ice cream. Local strawberries are in season in Louisiana. So, today I tried a new recipe for making strawberry ice cream. It has just 4 ingredients — plus vanilla extract. My recipe “hack” to achieve that creamy-custard consistency is to use evaporated milk rather than heavy cream. Plus, the recipe contains sweetened condensed milk — a new ice cream ingredient for me. For flavor, I added strawberry jello in addition to fresh strawberries. The process for making the ice cream “custard” is simply to dump all the ingredients into a container with a tight lid. Then shake the ingredients together until the jello dissolves. Chill the mixture for an hour or more (including overnight). Transfer to an ice cream machine and freeze the mixture. That is it. What is the verdict? This ice cream is delicious! It is smooth, rich with great strawberry flavor. Sweet, but not too sweet. Possibly some of the best ice creams that I’ve made in a long time! That says alot.

Strawberry Harvest in Louisiana

It is springtime in Louisiana. That means the landscape is bursting into colorful blossoms and flowers. And, it is time for local strawberries which ripen in March – May. Louisiana strawberries have the reputation of being the most sweet and juicy berries in the country.

Strawberries grow on runners. You actually plant the bare runners in the fall. The runners winter over — not much is going on. Then in the springtime, the strawberries have a growth burst as it warms up. The plants thrive and make beautiful berries.

At the turn of the century, this important agricultural crop thrived in the rich farm soils about 45 miles east of us in Tangipahoa Parish (county) and the community of Ponchatoula. The strawberries were grown by Hungarian and Italian immigrants who found that the fruit made a good crop to supplement their work in the pine sawmills. The farms were close to the North-South railroad; so after picking — the strawberries made in onto to the trains to northern markets the same day. The peak of strawberry production was in the 1931. It has gradually declined since this time. Now, the strawberries are sold primarily in local produce stands and grocery stores. However, that doesn’t stop the small community of Ponchatoula’s claim to be the “Strawberry Capital of the World” with an annual strawberry festival.

We have fond memories of picking in the strawberry fields when they were opened to the public after the main harvest was finished. Our Cajun neighbors took us along. I had a great time picking the huge, sweet strawberries while my toddler son tramped up and down the rows mashing anything in our way. It kept our neighbor busy — keeping up with my son. I came home with a huge basket of luscious strawberries!

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

The ice cream maker is an important part of making ice cream. Making ice cream is possible because the ice cream maker transfers freezing temperature of ice cubes to the ice cream custard thus allowing the custard to freeze. Rock salt lowers the temperature of the ice cubes allowing the heat transfer of ice to custard to occur.

Beating the ice cream mixture is important, too. Beating the mixture incorporates air into the ice cream. It also beats the ice crystals so that the ones formed are small. (Large crystals make a grainy ice cream.)

My trusty, vintage Cuisinart Ice Cream maker works differently. This ice cream maker doesn’t need rock salt and ice cubes to make the ice cream. It uses a frozen cylinder containing a special coolant. (And, I don’t know what the coolant is.) Add the ice cream mixture to the frozen cylinder. The cylinder spins around (imitating the action of the beaters). This incorporates air into the ice cream mixture as the cylinder freezes the ice cream mixture. And it makes for a smooth ice cream — breaking up large grainy ice crystals.

The keys to using this Cuisinart system is that the cylinder must be completely frozen to work properly. And, the ice cream custard must also be chilled. Otherwise, forget it. The ice cream won’t freeze.

Strawberry Ice Cream Ingredients — and my recipe hacks

Here are the ingredients for my ice cream. I used both evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk in this recipe. Both these types of milk are heat-processed and concentrated. And, I did not use fat-free evaporated milk. You need some fat so I used regular evaporated milk.

Evaporated milk is crucial for making smooth ice cream. It is my recipe “hack.” Evaporated milk is heat-processed. During the heat treatment, the proteins denature and the sugars dissolve. This helps form a more stable protein network that traps air and water during churning. This prevents large ice crystals from forming making a smooth ice cream rather than a grainy, icy mixture.

Evaporated milk has another advantage. It has about 60% of its water removed. It is higher in protein, so it’s richer and creamier than regular milk but lower in fat than heavy cream. This contributes body and a smooth mouth-feel to the ice cream. As the ice cream churns, the concentrated protein content helps the ice cream freeze with less ice-crystal formation than plain milk.

The sweetened condensed milk and strawberry jello adds plenty of sugar, so no additional sugar is needed in this recipe. Plus, the jello adds the main strawberry flavor. It is my other recipe “hack.” Fresh strawberries add flavor “pop” and vanilla extract intensifies the flavor.

Such an easy recipe….Oh, my.

To make the recipe, clean and sort the strawberries. Cut off the tops and green leaves and cut large strawberries into halves. Then mash the strawberries to fine bits. I tried using a potato ricer. However, I found that my small food chopper did a much better job at grinding and mashing the berries. (This is the hardest part of the process.)

Now comes the easy part of the recipe… Simply dump the ingredients into a container with a tight-fitting lid. Add the evaporated milk and condensed milk first and mix them together. Then pour in the strawberry jello powder and vanilla extract. Mix together. Snap on the lid securely and and make sure it is sealed. Next — (here’s the fun part) — shake the container for a minute until the strawberry jello dissolves. (No need to add boiling water as with making strawberry jello.) Then add the mashed, fresh strawberries. Place the container in the refrigerator for an hour to chill it. (And, you may let it chill overnight.)

Next, it is time to freeze the mixture. Pour the ice cream custard into the frozen Cuisinart cylinder. Place on the stationary beater (the cylinder turns around–not the beater). Churn and freeze for 20 minutes — the motor should slow down and even may stop. As the cylinder turns and beats, air is added and the mixture increases in size — my ice cream actually overflowed the container.

That is it! We have ice cream.

This ice cream is very soft. Working quickly, transfer to a freezer-proof container and let the soft ice cream “cure” and harden for an hour or two. If you can wait! However, this ice cream is best the day you make it. So, don’t wait too long.

Here is my strawberry ice cream. It is creamy and smooth and rivals my custard ice cream recipes. Did my husband like it? You guessed it. The answer is “yes.” I had to hide it long enough to snap these photos.

So, when you want homemade ice cream without much fuss– try my recipe. This “no cook” recipe is extremely easy to make. And, it is easy to substitute other flavors of jello and other types of fruit to make new flavors. Lots of possibilities.

Enjoy!