Strawberry Ice Cream

Recently I've begun to love using my Kitchenaid ice cream attachment once again.  This newly reclaimed love is a little out of season, as we have just entered Autumn.  I absolutely love ice cream though, so no matter the season, I'm always eating it.

Strawberry Ice Cream

adapted from Tartlette

4 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

2 cups whipping cream

1 vanilla bean

1 punnet of strawberries, hulled and quartered

1.  In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and one cup of sugar until thick and pale yellow.  In a saucepan set over medium heat, bring the cream and vanilla bean seeds and pod to a simmer- do not let boil.

2.  Slowly pour the hot cream over the egg yolk mixture while whisking, to temper the egg yolks.  Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of a spoon.  The mixture should reach 170F on a candy thermometer.  Let cool completely, strain and refrigerate until cold.

3.  While the custard is cooling, prepare the strawberries.  Place the strawberries in a food processor and process until relatively smooth.  If you don't want any strawberry chunks, process until smooth.  I left it so that there were still some small chunks, however, next time I will process until smooth as the chunks of strawberries were a little icy.  

4.  Fold the strawberry puree through the cooled custard and process the custard mixture according to your ice cream maker's manufacturing instructions.