Ice Cream Week – #1 Strawberry Soda Ice Cream

So baked a bunch of stuff, but it is 112 degrees outside and decided against posting them until later.  Instead here are 3 recipes this week to get you prepped for either the 4th of July or National Ice Cream Day, July 15th.  I think these would be a great idea for an ice cream bar at a special event or birthday party.  Our subdivision has monthly ice cream socials and I made these for one of the events.  Due to the heat, the event is postponed.  However, after thorough taste testing, these recipes are definitely very deserving of their Austin Ice Cream Fair Blue Ribbon status.

All ice cream recipes were made in the Cuisinart 1.5 qt. ice cream maker.  I have 2 freezing containers, so it makes it easier to make several batches of ice cream at a time.

Strawberry Soda Ice Cream
yield 1 quart

1- 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 and 1/2 cups half and half
3/4 cup red cream soda or regular cream soda (I found a 3 liter container of red cream soda at Schnucks – it was a generic soda)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and mashed

Whisk it all up and churn!  That’s it.  Seriously.  My ice cream maker makes ice cream in 20-25 minutes.  I usually chill everything in the fridge first, but since I was dealing with carbonated soda I did not and simply pored it into the ice cream maker with the chilled ingredients instead.  At first this ice cream will be like a soft serve consistency.  I like that.  But if you like your ice cream more firm, freeze for a couple hours in the freezer first.

Coming up:  Milky Way Bar Ice Cream and Maple Syrup Ice Cream with Bacon topping!

Recipe from Food Network Magazine July/August 2012