Wednesday 4 January 2012

Homemade Eggless Strawberry Ice cream (No Cooking)

My love for sweets not withstanding, i didn't think i could get addicted to ice cream. Not until i made one at home with fresh strawberries in the peak of their season. And i discovered whole new limits to the quantity of ice cream that can be consumed in one sitting. My limits at least. At recent trips to the farmer's market i could see street side vendors selling packs of strawberries at rates much less than in super markets. And when i found that the cost of a pack was coming down with every visit over the last two months, i found myself buying increasing quantities of these red beauties. I ate some as dessert, just the fruits, but wasn't satisfied. And froze some because the rate at which fresh strawberries were coming into the house was more than the rate at which they were being consumed.  (By the way they freeze extremely well, i take a peek at the ones in the freezer once in a while and they look temptingly fresh). So as the year was coming to a close, i decided i was going to welcome the new year with a big bowl of ice cream, an irresistible one.
While i was all excited about how amazing this ice cream tasted, family and friends weren't as enthusiastic when i mentioned it, as much as they were about my previous bakes of cakes and cookies. It took me a while to understand the reason. Its because we all knew only one type of home made ice cream till now. The one where you buy a packet of ice cream powder, cook it with milk till it reaches a custard-y consistency, freeze it and eat it. It tastes less like ice cream and more like milky Indian sweets. And while i ate it with much enthusiasm as a kid, for lack of alternatives, i wasn't tempted to make some at home. Until i found out you could make ice cream that doesn't taste or smell overtly of milk. Now i want to try out even more varieties of ice cream. I heard of a simple recipe for caramel ice cream on TV yesterday, that might well become my next project.
Strawberries in the box to being washed, hulled and chopped
Yield: 1.5 litres
Serves: 12-15
Preparation time: Under 30 minutes
Setting time: 4 hours
Inspired from here

Ingredients 
3 cups fresh strawberries
3 cups fresh cream (i used Amul low fat)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Adding the milk, sugar, vanilla, cream and blending in the strawberries
Method
Wash, hull and chop the strawberries. In a large bowl stir in the sugar and milk until the sugar dissolves. I powdered the sugar first so i didn't have to whisk it longer. Add the vanilla essence. Now add the cream and whisk it again until smooth and creamy for a couple of minutes. Add the strawberries and mix into the cream using a hand blender in the same mixing bowl. Or transfer the contents to your blender or food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds. You will get a creamy mixture in dreamy pink. (Do a taste test here and add tablespoonfuls of sugar and blend until you get the desired sweetness, in case your strawberries are not sufficiently sweet). Transfer to a freezer safe bowl and keep it in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Before it freezes completely, take it out and blend again to get a creamier texture to the ice cream. You can repeat this process a couple more times if you want a softer creamier texture to your ice cream without any ice crystals at all. I stopped after one round and dug in. It was so delicious i now wonder if the remaining two packets of strawberries i froze are also destined to become ice cream.
Oh, and if you have an ice cream maker you can simply mix all the ingredients together, put it in the ice cream maker and follow the maker's instructions. You 've got it made.
Various servings of the delicious strawberry ice cream
My cousin came over on new year's, and we unwrapped new bubble stem glasses (in the above pic) so we could savour this ice cream in style. I ate more than half the ice-cream all by myself, i made a large batch and i have just one tiny portion sitting in the freezer and calling to me as i talk to you. I better go take care of it.
This last pic goes to Susan's Black and White Wednesday event, the very first one for this year. 
Also sending this ice cream to Ramya's Desserts event. 
Linking this to Anu's Berries Event: Strawberries being guest hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.

23 comments:

  1. Wish you and your family a very Happy New Year.
    I love strawberry icecream and feeling like having a scoop. Looks yummy and tempting.

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  2. Yum, excellent and super tempting icecream,i dont bother to have some scoops.

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  3. my daughter is a big fan of strawberries. ur home made ice cream looks perfect. should try it soon

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  4. @Urmi, Thank you. Happy new year to you too.
    @Priya, I too couldn't wait for the ice cream to soften enough till i got a big scoop. you can see the tiny scoop-fuls.
    @Ramya, its amazing how something can be so delicious with such little effort. I am sure your daughter will love it.

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  5. Wow. I want this now. SO rich and creamy and PINK..

    I will make this for sure, La.

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  6. ok i m making this tonight.

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  7. Anita, i am delighted that you were tempted enough to make it right away. Waiting for your feedback and Mimi's :-)

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  8. I came back from Mahableshwar with loads of strawberries. Most are frozen some a re made in a preserve (sweet) and rest will love this icecream but all of us(read me especially) is suffering from a very very bad cold. So this will be postponed to the next lot brought from local market. bookmarked.

    Happy new year by the way.

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  9. Archana, happy new year to you too. I hope you get well soon to be able to try this ice-cream :-) I know i posted the recipe in winter, because i simply couldn't wait. I offered some to my sister today and she too complained of a cold before tasting it. It did get over btw, between my sister and our cousin :)

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  10. Awesome ice cream..I too prefer the homemade version than the store brought ones..Lovely color too!!
    Wishing you happy 2012 !!

    Erivum Puliyum

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  11. Ha ha, liked the ending, very nice. I've never been fond of strawberry ice-cream, and don't care much for the fruit either. Maybe home-made will be different.

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  12. lovely idea dear...I want to try ur version now..;)
    Tasty Appetite

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  13. Thanks Julie and Jay.
    @Sra, I 've almost never eaten fresh strawberries before this last two months. And never opted for strawberry ice cream outside, ever. Bought my first pack of strawberries when my five year old niece was visiting us two months ago. And now i am in love with this strawberry ice cream. You should try it, Sra.

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  14. I made it and it came out absolutely awesome. I would doing a post on it soon..
    Thanks for sharing this recipe and inspiring me to make this pretty looking, yummy icecream

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  15. You are most welcome, Anita, and i am sooo looking forward to your post and your pics.

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  16. thank you for sending this awesome ice cream for my event

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  17. no eggs, no ice cream maker.. wow this is a fantastic recips! gonna try this :)

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  18. i'm so glad that this recipe requires no ice cream maker & its eggless ! yayy :D looks delicious

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    Replies
    1. the same here can't eat eggs and neither do i have an ice cream maker

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  19. Hard to believe it is eggless :). Looks perfect and tempting. Thx for linking to the event.

    Vardhini
    Event: Sweet Luv
    Event: Strawberries

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  20. This is excellent, love strawberries

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  21. Hi La.. this is my first time in your space! Saw strawberry ice creams and came here :) love the recipe.. will try this! a happy follower now..do drop by my space when u have time!! wil update once i do the ice cream!

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  22. i really like this ice cream recipe... i always thought tht making an icecream was atedious affair..but it appears reasonable mangeable the way u hve put it across... thanks for this one...its awesome!

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