Strawberry Ice Cream

Fourteen weeks. I am showing enough that Miss Patrice noticed on Monday and said nothing for two days and then on Wednesday asked if there was good news. I said yes. She hugged me and then went back to work. That is the professional version of a loving response and it was exactly right.

I told the daycare kids something is growing in my belly. Not in detail. Just that I was going to have a baby and that was exciting. The four-year-olds received this information with varying degrees of interest. Brianna, who is now five and has been at the daycare since she was four and announced she liked macaroni, said: is it a girl. I said I did not know yet. She said: I hope it is a girl. Then she went back to her painting. That was the complete transaction.

Gloria and Destiny know the full news now. Destiny reacted with the deep seriousness of someone who has been given a responsibility. She said she wanted to teach the baby to make cornbread. I said the baby would be a baby for a while first. She said she knew, she would wait. Then she went back to what she was doing. The calm certainty of it. She will wait and then she will teach the baby to make cornbread. That is a plan. That is a plan I want to see.

Destiny’s plan—to wait until the baby is old enough, then teach them to make cornbread—has been living in my head all week with the kind of quiet weight that good things carry. I can’t stop thinking about the calm certainty of it. She will wait. She will teach. That’s it. So I have been making my own small plans: things I want to share, flavors I want to hand down. This strawberry ice cream is one of them. It’s simple enough that a child can help, and good enough that they’ll want to.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes (includes freezing) | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

Macerate the strawberries. Combine the sliced strawberries with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl. Stir to coat and let sit for 15 minutes, until the berries release their juices and the mixture looks glossy and syrupy.
Blend the berry base. Transfer the macerated strawberries and all their juice to a blender or use an immersion blender. Pulse a few times — you want a slightly chunky puree, not completely smooth. Set aside.
Mix the cream base. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole milk and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved, about 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.
Combine. Fold the strawberry puree into the cream base and stir until evenly mixed. Taste and adjust sweetness if needed.
Churn or freeze. If using an ice cream maker, pour the mixture in and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions, usually 20–25 minutes, until thickened to a soft-serve consistency. If making no-churn, pour into a shallow freezer-safe container.
Freeze until firm. Transfer churned ice cream to a lidded container and freeze for at least 4 hours. For no-churn, stir the mixture every 45 minutes for the first 3 hours to break up ice crystals, then freeze until solid.
Serve. Let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before scooping. Serve in bowls or cones, plain or topped with fresh sliced strawberries.

Nutrition (per serving)

Strawberry Ice Cream — The Recipe I’m Already Saving for When They’re Old Enough to Help