Outrageous Strawberry Ice Cream

There is nothing better than outrageous strawberry ice cream.  You know I wouldn't throw that adjective about willy-nilly, right?  I'm way too serious about ice cream to do that.  This ice cream is not the anemic strawberry ice cream you used to get at your college cafeteria.  It is the kind that when you share it with friends and family, they will give you the title of Strawberry Ice Cream Genius. 

Please, please, please promise me that you will not try to make this ice cream with a clamshell of barely-red strawberries.  I can promise you that your ice cream will taste exactly like those berries:  blah.  Make this ice cream with tiny, sweet, gems of berry goodness that you can smell from 10 feet away.  Trust me, you'll make Strawberry Shortcake proud. 

Notes:
I measured the strawberries once they were sliced because it is difficult to measure whole berries.  I used crystallized honey for this recipe, but liquid honey can be used as well.  Strawberries have a tendency to foam when you're cooking them down.  Adding butter while the strawberries cook will help to minimize the formation of foam.  If you don't chop the berries that you are going to stir into the finished base into smaller pieces and add sugar, the berries will make it hard to scoop the finished ice cream.  I always let my ice cream base chill in the fridge overnight before I churn it because it makes the churning process go more smoothly.  Also, before I start to churn the ice cream, I freeze the container I'm going to store the ice cream in so it is nice and cold when I put the ice cream in it. 

Measuring note:  So that I knew when I had cooked the berry liquid down to 1 cup, I started by pouring 1 cup of water into my pot and then put a wooden spoon into the water until it reached the bottom of the pot.  I pulled out the wooden spoon and cut a small notch in it at the level where the water stopped to mark 1 cup.  I then poured the water out (to be used to water the plants later) and dried the pot well.  I then poured the berry liquid into the pot and added the sugar and butter.  When the liquid level reached the notch, I knew that I had reduced the berry mixture from 1½ cups to 1 cup. 

Ingredients:
3½ cups sliced strawberries (~1 pound); divided use
⅔ cup granulated sugar; divided use
½ tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon honey
1½ cups heavy whipping cream
½ cup whole milk
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla

Chop, Toss, Set Aside:
Take 1½ cups of the sliced strawberries and continue to chop them until they are about the size of M&M's.  Place the chopped berries in a medium-sized bowl, toss them with ⅓ cup of granulated sugar, and set the bowl aside.  You'll be stirring these reserved berries into the ice cream base so that there are chunks of strawberries in your ice cream.

Liquefy, Strain, Cook, Mix, Chill, Churn:
Take the remaining 2 cups of sliced strawberries, and purée them until the berries are completely liquefied.  Pour the strawberry liquid through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.  Discard the seeds.  You should have about 1½ cups of liquid.  Pour the strawberry liquid into a medium-sized pan with ⅓ cup of granulated sugar and the butter.  Cook the mixture until it has reduced to 1 cup of liquid (see the measuring note for an easy way to do this).  The mixture will be thick and bubbly.  Remove the pan from the heat, add the honey, and stir until it is dissolved.  Scrape the cooked strawberry mixture into a medium-/large-sized bowl and add the heavy whipping cream, whole milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, and reserved strawberry chunks and their juices.  Stir until the mixture is homogenous.  Place a tight-fitting lid or plastic wrap over the bowl, and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.  Freeze according to your ice cream machine directions.  Obviously, you'll need to keep the finished product in the freezer, but you already knew that, didn't you?  

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