Last week, my friend Heather of He Cooks She Cooks informed me that I won a contest on her blog and would receive a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker! I was so excited. Jon loves ice cream and I knew he’d love making his own. We’ve often talked about the kind of ice cream we’d make if we had the right equipment. We even tried once, sans ice cream maker, and ended up with a pretty good avocado jalapeño ice cream. For our first go with the new ice cream maker, Jon chose Strawberry Basil Gelato. I give him bonus points for using herbs from our garden.

While the substance was churning away in the machine, I was skeptical that it was going to turn out, but just as the instructions said, “20-25 minutes in the machine,” and we had a creamy, smooth soft-serve-esque ice cream. I could tell Jon was disappointed at first; he was expecting a different texture, but the flavor was outstanding. And after an overnight in the freezer, the ice cream formed to a nice gelato consistency, while still retaining it’s refreshing Strawberry-Basil flavor.

Thanks for the opportunity Heather. This is going to be fun!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup plus 4 additional tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups fresh strawberries – sliced
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil

Preparation:

Whisk egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar together into the bowl of your mixer and mix together with your paddle attachment until light and creamy. While your egg yolks are mixing, add milk & heavy whipping cream and 2 tablespoons sugar into a large sauce pan. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently until sugar dissolves and mixture warms. Remove from heat.

Temper the egg yolk mixture by adding some of the warm milk/cream mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Gradually add the egg yolk mixture into the milk/cream mixture and stir well to combine. Return to medium heat and cook until mixture thickens/coats the back of your wooden spoon. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract. Allow mixture to cool in pan completely and then place into the fridge and chill completely (this will take several hours).

While the mixture is cooling, place the strawberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, balsamic and finely chopped basil into the bowl. Stir well to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.

When the mixture is completely cool, blend the strawberry mixture until it is smooth and creamy. Add the strawberry mixture to the cream mixture and stir well. Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker! Voila!