COOKING WITH KIDS: Emory’s Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream for Spring

I don’t know about you, but when springtime hits, my food thoughts go to strawberries. Heavy rainstorms notwithstanding, we’re lucky to have a long strawberry season here in the Queen City with lots of pick-your-own options.

While strawberries are normally available all year round in grocery stores, there is nothing like the taste of a just-picked berry off the vine. If you don’t want to pick your own, farm stands and farmers markets all around Charlotte sell strawberries to go in pint- and quart-sized containers, or by the bucketful. If you’ve never enjoyed the sweet taste of a fresh picked strawberry, let this be the year you treat yourself.

Once you and your family have had your fill of fresh picked berries by the bowlful, in strawberry shortcakes, dipped in chocolate, sliced and baked into cobblers, or as a sweet addition to your favorite pancake recipe, why not try your hand at homemade strawberry ice cream?

My 4-year-old niece, Emory Parks, helped me with this month’s recipe. In prepping it, she learned some good knife skills as she cut off the tops of the strawberries and cut the berries in half. She also loves using the stand mixer, so whipping the cream was tons of fun, too.

As you plan this recipe with your kids, you might also consider pairing it with a cake. I’d like to suggest a recipe I wrote for Charlotte Parent years ago—it’s one I call WorthWhile Chocolate Cake, and it’s another one you can easily make with your kids.

An interesting spin on this recipe is the roasting of the strawberries, as the heat and the sugar bring out even more of the berry’s natural sweetness. And if after you’ve roasted, you save a cup or so of the cooked berries and their liquid, you’ll have a lovely strawberry sauce to top your ice cream and cake.

Emory’s Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream

 INGREDIENTS

• 3 pounds ripe local strawberries, stemmed and halved (this will give you enough to have leftovers for a strawberry sauce)
• 2-3 tablespoons raw or organic sugar (Emory says her secret ingredients is 4 tablespoons of sugar here!)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (13oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (use liquid cream here—not Cool Whip or an already whipped product.)

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by roasting the strawberries (this can be done in advance if you would like.)
2. Have an adult preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Pile the halved and stemmed strawberries on a parchment paper lined baking sheet with sides. Sprinkle with sugar. Toss so that all the berries are covered with the sugar, then spread the strawberries out into a single layer on the baking sheet.
4. Place the baking sheet on the center rack in the oven and roast the berries for 35-40 minutes, stirring the mix up about halfway during the baking time. If it looks like the juices are getting too thick and sticking to the bottom of the ban, lower the heat to 325 for the last half of the roasting process.
5. Remove from oven and allow the berries to cool.
6. Scrape the berries off the parchment-lined pan into a food processor fitted with the steel knife or pour the mix into a large blender, being sure to get all the juices.
7. Use short on and off pulses in the food processor to coarsely chop the berries and make a bit of a syrup.

 To make the ice cream:

1. Remove a cup or so of the strawberry mixture and add the condensed milk and vanilla into the strawberries. Again, use short on and off pulses in the food processor to combine all the ingredients.
2. Pour this strawberry mix into a large bowl and reserve.
3. Next, pour the heavy whipping cream in another bowl or the bowl of stand mixer and use and electric beater or the whisk attachment to beat the cream into stiff peaks. Or as Emory says, “Beat the cream up to make clouds.”
4. Fold the clouds of whipped cream into the strawberry mixture, about a quarter of the bowl at a time. Don’t beat over mix the cream, just gently fold it into the strawberry and condensed milk mixture.
5. Once the cream is all folded into the strawberry mix, you are ready to freeze. Or, if you’d like, you can skip the freezing step and simply chill this mix in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and serve it as a strawberry mousse.

To Freeze:

1. Spoon the mixture into glass canning jars. Take care not to fill the jars all the way to the top. You need to leave room for the mixture to expand as it freezes.
2. Place the tops on the jars and place in a freezer overnight or for at least 12 hours.

To Serve:

1. Pull the jars of ice cream out of the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5-8 minutes to soften and become scoopable.
2. Scoop out individual servings and top with the reserved strawberry sauce, or plate with a slice of chocolate cake and then sauce with the leftover strawberries.

Fun Serving Tip: Before you refrigerate for strawberry mousse or freeze for strawberry ice cream, use smaller ½ cup jars to make each one an individual serving. After taking off the lid, you can spoon the strawberry sauce right on the top. For the kiddos, use small plastic freezer containers instead of glass.