Double Strawberry Ice Cream and Quick Strawberry Muffins

I have fond memories of making homemade ice cream during the summer as a kid. Mom placed the noisy electric ice cream maker (an upgrade from the hand crank model which you had to fill with rock salt) outside the kitchen door on the patio, filled it with creamy strawberry ice cream base and turned it on.  When we heard the noise of that motor cranking away we knew that a special treat was awaiting us after dinner. We waited with anticipation for the cold, pink, creamy sweetness of homemade strawberry ice cream. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

Bakersfield Beauties

Visiting family in Bakersfield this weekend we decided to pick up some fresh local strawberries.  Bakersfield is the southern end of the great central valley, the vast agricultural heartland of California. My father-in-law had been telling me about a local farmer who grew the best strawberries, so we decided to go get berries in the morning as they sell out later in the day.  The stand is on Snow Road near Old Farm Road. Just look for cars pulled over at the little green and white shack.

As soon as I opened the car door I was flooded with the incredible smell of fresh strawberries being warmed by the sun. Their fragrance was thick and sweet in the morning air. The open window to the stand was filled with basket upon basket of rich red strawberries. The berries were smaller and nicer than at the stands around our house and although the sign out front did not say organic, I figured they were.

Wanting to know more about these berries we wandered around back and found the grower, Chai Saechao, holding pails piled high with just picked strawberries. His family has been farming strawberries in the area since 1988.We talked with Chai about his beautiful strawberries.  The small red ones were Chandlers. He was also growing a few rows of the Albion variety. Chai picked a huge Albion strawberry right off the plant and handed it to me. Warm from the sun, this huge perfect strawberry was amazingly sweet and juicy. The flavor was incredible. He said the Chandlers were even juicier! And yes, Chai’s berries were organic. Truly, these were the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever tasted, like they were dipped in sugar syrup.

You can find conventionally grown strawberries everywhere during the growing season but organic strawberries are more difficult to come by. Why go the extra mile for organic strawberries? Because the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit group focused on public health, lists strawberries as number three on their “Dirty Dozen” list. If you are not familiar with this list, it helps consumers make healthier food choices in regards to pesticides when grocery shopping. Check out the link and print a copy for yourself to take shopping. Even more, make time to read through EWG’s website for more helpful information.

Strawberries – Baked and Frozen

With a half flat of sweet red treasure in my arms we headed back to the house. I planned to take these berries home with me later but couldn’t wait to do something with them. With soup already made for lunch I thought about a quick batch of strawberry muffins. I turned to the web and found a quick, simple strawberry muffin recipe. Heavenly aromas filled the house as they were baking. Warm from the oven and flecked with diced strawberries just hours from the field they were light, tender and not too sweet. Perfect after lunch and equally good for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

At home, I made a batch of easy double strawberry ice cream for dessert,  a sweet end to our Memorial Day dinner of grilled baby back ribs, macaroni salad and deviled eggs.  With strawberries this sweet, no additional sugar was needed. Just two ingredients made for wondeful ice cream - strawberries and sweetened condensed milk. Try this simple recipe and freeze extra berries for strawberry ice cream all summer long.

Strawberry Muffins

Recipe by  Carol Pellegrinelli, Desserts and Baking Guide at www.about.com

Yield: 6-7 huge, 9 large or 11-12 regular size muffins. I used muffin cup liners rather than greasing the muffin cups. Try using coarse sugar for the topping. It adds extra sparkle and crunch

Ingredients

2 cups flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (check the expiration date)

1/2 teaspoon salt (table salt)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

1 egg

1 cup milk (whole milk)

1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted cooled butter (I used butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped strawberries

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 12-cup muffin pan (or use paper muffin cup liners). Combine dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup sugar with a wire whisk. In a seperate bowl, combine wet ingredients, egg, oil and extract. Add strawberries. Combine wet and dry ingredients only until moistened. Spoon batter* into muffin cups. Combine remaining sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

*For huge muffins only fill 6 to 7 muffin cups.
For large muffins fill only 9 muffin cups.
For regular to small muffins fill all 12 cups.
Please be sure to half-fill empty muffin cups with water to ensure even baking.

For extra special muffins, top each with a strawberry slice or a few blueberries for the red, white and blue touch for patriotic holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

Simple Double Strawberry Ice Cream

If strawberries are ripe and very sweet, no additional sugar is needed to make terrific ice cream. Let the flavor of the berries shine. This recipe has just two ingredients!

Yield: about 1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds fresh strawberries, stemmed, washed and quartered, about 4 cups

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

6 ounces fresh strawberries, stemmed, washed and diced small, about 1 cup

Directions

1) Puree 4 cups of strawberries in a food processor fitted with a steel chopping blade. Add sweetened condensed milk and puree together to make the ice cream base. Place a fine sieve over a large bowl and pour the ice cream base into the sieve. With a large ladle push the ice cream base through the sieve to remove the strawberry seeds and refine the base.

2) Chill the base until very cold. Process the ice cream base in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions. Towards the end of the freezing process, add 1 cup of diced strawberries or fold in by hand. Ice cream will be soft when finished. Place ice cream in the freezer for several hours to firm up.