Strawberry Ice Cream @MaddieDayAuthor #Birthday #Summer

MADDIE DAY here, with a special celebration ice cream recipe!

July 4th was my paternal grandmother Dorothy's birthday, and she was born in 1900. She was the oldest of the six Henderson children, and 1918 the family drove two touring cars from Indianapolis to the west coast, where Dot's father was going to be the western regional sales manager for the Cole Automobile Company.

From left: Jimmy, Dot, Alice, Charles, Edith, Ruth, Helen, and Irma
at the start of the trip

Dot celebrated her eighteenth birthday at a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a special menu and dancing with her brother, Jimmy.

A fictionalized version of Dot is the lady PI in A Case for the Ladies, my 1926 story of her sleuthing in Boston with Amelia Earhart. Amelia's birthday was also in July (stay tuned for her mother's biscuit recipe here on the 26th), and the ebook is on a special sale all month to celebrate.

For Dot's birthday this year, I decided to make homemade strawberry ice cream. Strawberries are still local and sweet, and I discovered I could get an ice cream maker attachment for my big KitchenAid mixer!

Home Churned Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled and mashed = 2 cups

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions 

In small saucepan heat sugar and half and half over medium-low heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved or until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. (Don't boil.) Let mixture cool.

Mash strawberries in a food processor or blender (for smooth texture) or just mash up (for chunky strawberry texture). Stir in lemon juice and chill.

Into the cooled half-and-half mixture, add heavy cream, vanilla, and strawberry mash. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or until fully chilled before churning ice cream.

Follow directions for your specific ice cream maker to make ice cream. Note: for a KitchenAid attachment, make sure bowl is completely frozen for at least 15 hours. 

Churn for about 20-25 minutes or until "soft-serve" texture. 

Enjoy as soft-serve texture or transfer ice cream to freezer-safe container and freeze for 2-4 hours to "ripen" or firm up for scooping. 

Enjoy with a good historical mystery!

Readers: what's your favorite ice cream flavor? Remember, the ebook of Dot and Amelia's adventures is deeply discounted all month!

🍧🍦🍨

Murder at the Rusty Anchor is out and available wherever books are sold!

My most recent releases are A Case for the Ladies.

And Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries.

And Murder Uncorked, Cece Barton Mystery #1, which released in late October.

Check out all my writing:

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.