So, relevant but irrelevant:  last week I cleaned out my refrigerator.  Like, REALLY cleaned it out.  I took everything out, scrubbed it, sanitized it, threw away, organized, and made everything pretty and bright.  In my cleaning frenzy, I uncovered four pounds of strawberries that we purchased the weekend before at the Farmer’s Market.  The strawberries were clinging to life, on the edge of questionable, so I chopped them up and was racking my brain for strawberry recipes.

I made a strawberry cake (that recipe is coming soon, too), a strawberry syrup reduction, and my girls ate a good pounds-worth right out of the bowl, but I still had a few left to use.

Then it happened.  Chocolate covered strawberry ice cream happened.

I don’t know why.

But it’s good.  It’s goooooooooooooood.  

These are the things that happen when you have four pounds of strawberries to use, I guess.

My girls are BIG fans of chocolate covered strawberries, so they were terribly excited about this whole endeavor.  I don’t know how many times I shoo’d them out of the kitchen, but I’d guess it was somewhere in the seventy-bazillion range.  :/

My first effort didn’t really work.  It tasted fine, but my challenge was that if the strawberries were too big, they would freeze and end up like little ice cubes in your ice cream – they were too cold, and the wrong texture.  I had to make them smaller. Even then, It took a couple of batches to get it just right, but I think you’ll love the result.

And yeah, I had to buy more strawberries.  (My world = trying to use up extra strawberries so you end up needing more strawberries.)

ANYWAY, the strawberries need to be small – no bigger than half-inch pieces.  I accomplished this by dipping bigger pieces to make it easy and then chopping the hardened, dipped berries into the size I needed.

Plus, I love the pops of red that appear in the ice cream. So pretty.

When you add the strawberries to your ice-cream maker, some of the chocolate will break off, and that’s ok.  And some of the strawberries will break into smaller pieces.  That’s ok too.

There’s really nothing about this ice cream that isn’t ok.

Especially when you drizzle hot fudge over the top.  Are you kidding me?  Look at it – this is homemade ice cream at it’s very, very best.

I used my favorite vanilla ice cream recipe – it’s easy, super-duper easy, and the perfect combination of creamy, silky, and vanilla-y.  If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you have to get one.  I have a 2-quart Cuisinart that does a great job and we use it all of the time, it’s one of those kitchen gadgets that was worth the investment.

This would make a fun Valentine’s Day dessert, but don’t save it for that.  This is a year-round, can’t lose recipe and I hope you give it a try!

Oh, and if you want an awesome hot fudge recipe, click here.  One of my favorites!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream

 

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Prep time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Take your favorite strawberry ice cream recipe up a notch by adding chopped chocolate covered strawberries at the end of your churn cycle. A drizzle of hot fudge over the top makes this a truly special dessert.

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients

Ice cream:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons high-quality vanilla extract

Strawberries:

• 2 cups strawberries, washed and hulled
• 8 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate
• Directions:
• Combine 1 cup of the cream with the sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pan and drop in the vanilla pod. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the remaining 1 cup of cream, the milk and the vanilla.
• Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is well chilled. Remove the vanilla bean before churning. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Instructions

1. Combine 1 cup of the cream with the sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.
2. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the remaining 1 cup of cream, the milk and the vanilla.
4. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is well chilled, about 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare strawberries.
6. Chop berries into bite-size pieces (about ½" long). Pat dry with paper towels.
7. Chop the chocolate, and place into a microwave-safe bowl.
8. Microwave chocolate in 15-30 second intervals, stirring as you go with a plastic spatula, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
9. Dip the strawberry pieces into the chocolate, remove with a fork, tap excess chocolate off, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet to harden. Repeat until all pieces are coated.
10. If necessary, place strawberries in the refrigerator until chocolate is hardened.
11. Cut any large pieces in half (I actually like to see the red from the strawberry, so I cut all of them in half.)
12. Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions until your ice cream is very thick.
13. Add strawberry pieces and either allow machine to incorporate them, or stir them in with a large spoon.
14. Pour into freezer safe bowl, cover tightly, and freeze ice cream until hard.
15. Allow to soften slightly before serving.
16. Drizzle with hot fudge, and enjoy!

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