I have a confession to make.
I used to be totally weirded-out by strawberry ice cream. Though, admittedly, I can’t resist a ripe and perfectly red, fresh berry, I have carried this strong aversion to all things strawberry-flavored for most of my life. From ice cream to jam, I just couldn’t deal.
I’m getting over it now and with dreams of spring and summer evenings on the horizon, I’ve been picking up less-than-perfect berries from the store. Mostly I’ve been blending them into smoothies, but last weekend I roasted a pint with a split vanilla bean and the smell was just perfect. Sweet, vanilla-scented, strawberry heaven.
This ice cream starts with syrupy, heady, roasted berries which get stirred into a creamy, custard base, there’s a long chill where everything mingles, followed by a churning in an ice cream maker, and finally, near the end of churning I drizzled a bit of homemade “magic shell” in for a stracciatella effect. The chocolate/coconut oil combo vs. straight-up melted chocolate makes for extra-crisp little bits of chocolate in every spoonful of ice cream. It really is like ice cream magic.
Roasted Strawberry Stracciatella
For the berries:
1 pint strawberries
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2-4 Tablespoons sugar, depending on the sweetness of your berries
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Pick through the berries, rinse, drain, and hull. Toss berries in a baking dish with vanilla bean and sugar. Roast for 30-40 minutes until berries are dark pink, and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and set aside.
For Ice Cream:
2 cups half and half
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
Set a mesh strainer over a large bowl and set aside.
In a medium sauce pan heat half and half over medium-low heat to scald.
Meanwhile, whisk sugar, salt, and yolks in a heatproof bowl until pale and thick. Slowly add the hot half and half to the yolk mixture and scrape back into the saucepan. Heat over medium-low, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the bowl and stir the mixture over an ice bath until cool.
Mash the roasted berries coarsely with a fork and stir into custard base. Cover with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
For the Stracciatella:
4 1/2 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1/2 ounce coconut oil
Right before you are ready to churn, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water until smooth and combined. Process in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. At the very end of churning, drizzle in the melted chocolate/coconut oil to form crackling ribbons of chocolate throughout the ice cream. Scrape the ice cream from the ice cream maker into a airtight container and freeze.
This really is an ice cream dream. Now I want this in a banana split and then in a neapolitan situation. Yum!
yes! it’s just a banana away from a split.
you had me at me at roasted berries…does ice cream melt when you ship it?
sure, it’ll just be ice-cream-soup!
holy cow…i feel the same! i have an irrational aversion to strawberry ice cream! but i mean, what’s not to like? i think i’ll have to tackle this project. also – i think the vanilla roasted berries would be fantastic with yogurt for breakfast!
oooh! yes! they would be perfect with yogurt!
Yum! I love strawberry ice cream. I love how the color of this turned out – so much deeper and prettier than store-bought!
Thanks Maggie!
I never would have chosen strawberry ice cream in my younger days, but I think it’s because of the terrible strawberry-flavored things that just don’t compare. Marc likes Mike n’ Ikes and the strawberry-flavored one is horrible!! We went to the Henry Ford Museum on the hottest day ever last summer and the ice cream dude recommended the strawberry. I was hesitant, but it was fantastic. I NEED to roast some strawberries!! I’ve been meaning to make that magic shell, did you like it??
I think I was scarred by artificial strawberry things too. I totally get it! Sometimes a hot day will change your mind, ha. I loved the magic shell…it’s only slightly coconut-y and it hardens quickly.
Funny…I have a similar version to anything watermelon-flavored. Love the fresh stuff, but watermelon-flavored things always taste so…fake. This ice cream looks divine – perhaps a good excuse for me to bust out my ice cream maker…which I’ve never used. Tragic, I know.
ew, yes…I have that same thing with watermelon flavored things. you need to break in that ice cream machine!
Roasting the less than perfect berries is an awesome idea! Your ice cream sounds and looks really good.
Thanks Lynn!
Hi there. I can be silent no longer. I adore your blog and your recipes! This one struck a chord, reminding me of a balsamic strawberry ice cream I love here in San Francisco. I can’t wait to try this recipe, the roasted strawberries must smell amazing! 🙂
yes! thanks for coming out to comment 🙂 I love strawberries w/ balsamic, I bet that ice cream is amazing! Also, San Francisco is my very favorite city in the world!
oh wow. I was already a strawberry enthusiast–especially the sweet, tiny local berries we get here in MA in june–but this sounds pretty irresistible. I made the roasted strawberry ice cream from “jeni’s splendid ice creams” last summer, but it tasted a bit too much like strawberry cheesecake to me (she has you add a few T of cream cheese to improve mouth feel and negate ice crystals). needless to say, I can’t wait to try your version!!
nice! thanks Jenny!
I have a gelato shop in Escondido and one of our facebook fans suggested we make this. We made it today and already sold out. Great recipe!!
Amazing! This makes me so happy 🙂
I LOVE stracciatella gelato and all-natural, chunky strawberry ice cream; they’re my all time favorites. I can’t wait to try this recipe!!! (3 exclamations points – that’s how excited I am!)
yay! I hope you try it!