Vanilla Bean Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream

I’ve been enjoying myself far too much in the kitchen lately, meaning my once-kicked sugar habit is now on reprieve. An ice cream maker was finally added to my arsenal of small appliances, and it’s been busy churning frozen greek vanilla bean yogurt (what a mouthful!) nearly every day.

The greek frozen yogurt I’ve been making is wonderful when fresh, but I find that it freezes hard as a rock, making it cumbersome to scoop and serve a day or so after making it. So I gave in to a more traditional ice cream recipe, and made it a little lighter. And bonus!, it includes two of my all-time favorite flavors: vanilla and strawberry.

This recipe also had the benefit of an extra taste tester since my sister-in-law is in town. After touring rainy Olympia like we should have done as residents long ago, it was nice to unwind to a little ice cream served in a soda fountain glass, garnished with a fresh strawberry.

It’s also such a delight when my husband and his sister can play with Margot in the adjacent living room while I’m busy in the kitchen. During the work week when I’m at home alone, and Margot begins to cry, I usually keep working and holler “it’s okay honeeeey!” until I can hurriedly stop what I’m doing and rush to her aide. I already sound like a terrible parent, but I still have a house to run! Okay Moms, time to reassure me that that’s a sort-of normal thing for us to do.

Vanilla Bean Strawberry Swirl Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 eggs

3 cups of 2% milk

2 cup half and half

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 Vanilla Bean – slice lengthwise and scrape caviar, discard bean

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar free organic strawberry preserves

Directions

1. Using whisk attachment in mixer, beat eggs until light in color. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Add milk, half and half, salt, and vanilla bean caviar and stir well to combine.

2. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer directions. In my Cuisinart ice cream maker, it takes approximately 30 minutes to get a decent texture, but it still requires several hours freeze time to get a solid ice cream scoop.

3. Approximately five minutes before completion in ice cream maker, stir in half of the strawberry preserves.

4. Spoon ice cream out into 2 quart glass casserole dish, swirling in the remaining strawberry preserves.

5. Freeze for 2-5 additional hours, or until firm.

Notes:

In my Cuisinart ice cream maker, it takes approximately 30 minutes to get a decent texture, but it still requires several hours freeze time to get a solid scoop of ice cream. If you plan on making this ice cream for a group, or would like it ready by a certain time, I recommend giving yourself six hours to let the ice cream set.

Recipe adapted from Apple A Day: Oklahoma Farm Style Ice Cream.