Strawberry Ice Cream

This may be the best strawberry ice cream I have ever tasted.  Pulled it from the current June 2018 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Start it the night before you want to make it.

 Clean and halve a pound of fresh strawberries and put them in a blender or a food processor along with lemon juice and sugar.  Process until nice and smooth.

Press the purée through a fine sieve.  You should get around 1-1/2 cups of purée.

Bring the milk, cream, corn syrup, and sugar to a boil and simmer.

Cool the cream mixture in an ice bath until cool.

Once the cream mixture is cool, add the strawberry purée.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Roughly chop the 8 ounces of strawberries and add to a mixture of vodka and sugar.  Cover and allow to macerate overnight in the refrigerator.

The next morning, process in your ice cream maker according to directions. When the ice cream gets to a soft serve stage, drain the reserved strawberries and add to the ice cream.  Use the drained vodka for another use (like a cocktail).

 Spoon ice cream into a bread pan and refrigerate.

 Strawberry Ice Cream
Makes 1-1/2 quarts
From the June 2018 issue of Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients:
Fresh strawberries - 1 lb. plus 8 ounces more; 
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup low-fat milk
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup for macerating
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup vodka

Mise en place:

• Clean and hull the pound of strawberries and cut in half
• clean and coarsely chop 8 ounces of strawberries
• squeeze lemon juice
• measure out all other ingredients

Method:
In a blender or food processor, purée  the halved strawberries with lemon juice and salt. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve (you should have 1-1/2 cups of purée; reserve any excess for another use).

Combine milk, cream, 2/3 cups sugar, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 2 minutes. Strain mixture into a bowl, set the bowl in an ice bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold. Stir in strawberry purée. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Stir together the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and vodka.  Add chopped strawberries and macerate, covered overnight in the refrigerator.

Process the purée mixture in your ice cream maker according to the directions.  When the ice cream is at the soft serve stage (towards the end of processing), drain the chopped strawberries and add the berries to the ice cream.  Save the liquid from the macerating strawberries for another use; most likely for a cocktail 😀

Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and freeze, wrapped in plastic, at least 4 hours and up to 1 week. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.

Strawberries and Cream Cake

Lovey selected this clipping from the April 2013 issue of Southern Living.

I'll just say up front that this cake is very easy but takes a lot of time to create.  A lot of that time is everything cooling off in the refrigerator.  They should call this Patience Cake

There are three components: the cake layers, a strawberry jam filling and a strawberry frosting.

It will make it easier on you if you start the jam and the cake layers a day or two ahead of serving.

For the Jam

Begin by slicing up or roughly chopping fresh strawberries then mashing them up with a potato masher.  A pastry blender gets the job done as well.

Add sugar, blend and let stand for about half an hour.  (There's 1/2 hour waiting)



Bring this to a boil over medium heat; let boil for 5 minutes.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in strawberry gelatin until dissolved.  Let this sit and cool for about an hour (another hour of waiting).



Once cooled pour into a covered container and refrigerate for 8 hours. (we're up to 9-1/2 hours waiting now).


Once the jam is in hibernation, make the cake layers.



You will be making six 8-inch layers.  I just happened to have 6 throw-away tins so I used those.  They've been taking up cabinet space for more time than they are worth.



Grease and flour each cake pan.




Separate the eggs.  There are a lot of eggs in this cake.




Measure out the dry ingredients and the oil, lemon juice and water.




Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl then make a well in the center.



Add the oil, lemon juice, water and egg yolks and beat 3 or 4 minutes until smooth.

I mixed up the batter with my hand mixer because I'm going to use the stand mixer for the egg whites.



Sugar and cream of tartar will be added to the egg whites.



Beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar at medium-high until soft peaks form.



Gradually add the sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.



Gently stir about a fourth of the egg white mixture into the cake batter.


Gently fold in the remaining egg white mixture into the batter.



Spoon batter into the cake pans, dividing equally.



Smooth tops with an offset spatula.



Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  The instructions called for 12 - 15 minutes of baking time but I baked them for about 20 minutes before a cake tester came out clean.



After resting in the pans for about 10 minutes, remove from pans and allow to cool completely on wire racks, about an hour.  (we're up to 11 hours cooling time now)

I covered the cake layers and began the assembly the next day. 

Cover a cake board with foil and place one layer on the cake board


Give the chilled jam a good stir and spread about 2/3 cup on top of the first layer, leaving  1/4" border around the edges.



Repeat with the remaining layers but do not spread any jam on the top layer.  You will have jam left over.

Now, wrap the complete assembly in plastic wrap and, you guessed it.....put it in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours.  (we now have a tally of 19 to 35 hours of chill time)

Now it's time to ice the cake.  I was so tired of working on this thing that I didn't even take photos of making the frosting.  Again, like every step in this recipe it was very simple and easy; nothing difficult.  The magazine photos of the finished cake showed the icing to be as smooth as a baby's butt.  Mine definitely didn't look as pristine.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that once the cake is iced.... it has to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours.

It was impressive and showy

It was also very tasty; but here's the thing...

After the first bite, Lovey and I looked at each other and said, "Tastes just like strawberry shortcake".  And it did.  Lawzy Mercy!  Next time I'm wanting something like this I'll just make shortcake from scratch, cut up some fresh berries and top with whipped cream!

But if you want to make an impressive looking cake that tastes just like strawberry shortcake here is how to do it.

Strawberries and Cream Cake
Adapted from the April 2013 issue of Southern Living
Serves 12

The Strawberry Jam Filling

Ingredients:

2 pounds whole strawberries

2-1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin

Method:

Wash and slice  or roughly chop strawberries. Using a pastry cutter mash the berries so you have  4 cups mash.

Stir together the strawberries and sugar in a large saucepan; allow to sit and macerate for 30 minutes.

Bring strawberry mixture to a boil over medium heat; boil 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in gelatin until dissolved; cool completely (about 1 hour).  Cover and chill for 8 hours.

The Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted cake flour

2-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. table salt

1-1/4 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

4 large egg yolks

1/4 cup water

8 large egg whites

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Method:  

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease and flour 6 8-inch round cake pans.

Stir together the first 3 ingredients and 1 cup of the sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of mixture; add the oil, the lemon juice, egg yolks, and water. Beat at medium-high with an electric hand mixer 3-4 minutes or until smooth.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into flour mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Spoon batter into the 6 prepared cake pans.

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

Spread the chilled filling between the cake layers, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edges (about 2/3 cup between each layer). Don't spread any filling on the top layer. Cover the cake with plastic wrap, and chill 8 to 24 hours.

The Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. strawberry-flavored gelatin

2 Tbsp. boiling water

1 cup chilled whipping cream

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 - 8 ounce container chilled sour cream

Stir together first 2 ingredients in a small bowl; cool completely (about 20 minutes).

Beat whipping cream and gelatin mixture at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy; gradually add sugar, beating until soft peaks form. Stir in sour cream, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring just until blended after each addition. 

Assembly

Place the chilled, layered cake on a cake plate or stand.  Spread the frosting on top and sides of cake.  Chill 2 hours before serving.

Fresh Strawberry Mousse

'Tis the season for fresh strawberries and I've got a stack of recipes calling for strawberries that I'm hoping to work through this Spring.

Mousse of any kind is a love of mine.  They are light, fluffy and delicate.  Let's see how this one turns out.  I hope this turns out with 'lush texture, real berry flavor', just like Cook's Illustrated boasts .

 Fresh strawberries, sugar, cream, gelatin, salt and cream cheese.

Simple enough ingredients.  The different ingredient that I don't usually see in a lot of mousse recipes is the cream cheese.  It's used as a fortifier, body provider and to lend a little bit of a subtle twang.

Dice 1/4 cup worth of strawberries and set in the refrigerator.  These will be your garnish.

 The rest of the strawberries will be roughly chopped in the food processor

Toss the processed strawberries in a bowl with 1/4 cup of the sugar. 

 Add the salt, cover the bowl and let the strawberries macerate for 45 minutes.

Strain the strawberries through a fine sieve.  You should have about 2/3 cup of juice.



 Put 3 Tbsp. of the juice in a tiny bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top of it.  Let it soften for about 5 minutes.



The remaining juice is cooked down to 3 Tbsp.

 
Once reduced removed from heat and whisk in the gelatin mixture, whisking until dissolved.  




Add the cream cheese and whisk until smooth.  



Pour this mixture into a large bowl.


 

Return the macerated berries to the processor bowl to pureé

Run the strawberry pureé through a fine mesh strainer or a food mill like I did.

 

I personally think that the strainer would remove more of the tiny seeds.  The food mill allowed a lot to get through although it did not compromise the mousse in my opinion.

Whip the cream until you have soft peaks






Add the remaining sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks have formed.


 

Combine the strained berries and the cream cheese mixture

Whisk the whipped cream into the berry mixture


 

until no white streaks remain

Divide the mousse into dessert dishes and chill for at least 4 hours.  Garnish with your reserved chopped berries.



Fresh Strawberry Mousse
Serves 4 to 6
Adapted from the May/June 2014 issue of Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh strawberries (6-1/2 cups)
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
pinch of salt
1-3/4 tsp unflavored gelatin (one 1/4 oz. envelope)
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream

Mise en Place

• wash and hull strawberries
• Measure out sugar
• measure out salt and gelatin
• cut cream cheese into 8 pieces and allow to soften
• measure out cream and place in refrigerator until ready to use

Method:
Cut enough strawberries into 1/4-inch dice to measure one cup; refrigerate until ready to use as garnish.  In the bowl of a food processor pulse the remaining strawberries in two batches.  Pulse each batch 6-10 times so that your strawberries are in 1/4-inch pieces.  Don't clean the processor bowl or blade.  You're going to use it again.

Transfer the berries to a bowl and add 1/4 cup of the sugar and the salt.  Toss, cover and let macerate for 45 minutes; stirring periodically.

Strain the macerated berries through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.  You should have around 2/3 cup of juice.  Measure out 3 Tbsp. into a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top of juice.  Allow gelatin to soften for about 5 minutes.

Place the remaining juice in a small saucepan.  Over medium-high heat cook the juice until the juice is reduced to 3 Tbsp. (about 10 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and add the softened gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Add the cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large bowl.

Return the macerated berries to the processor bowl and process until smooth, 15 to 20 seconds.  Strain the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing on solids to remove seeds and pulp.  (You should have about 1-2/3 cups pureé).  Discard any solids that are left in the strainer..

In a bowl of stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, whip the cream on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute.  Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes.  Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 more minutes.

Whisk the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture until no white streaks remain.

Divide the mouse into dessert dishes and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 48 hours.  Serve, garnishing with the reserved diced strawberries.  If the mousse is chilled longer than 6 hours, let the mousse sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.