Dave's Strawberry Gelato

Last week we went strawberry picking and I came home with a whole bucket of yummy fresh strawberries. At the end of June we had our final church service for the summer (yes, our church closes for summer vacation LOL) and at the after service potluck one of the members brought homemade strawberry gelato. When I came home with our strawberries I decided that was what I was going to make.

Now we've bought gelato at the grocery store several times and each time I've been thrilled with how little fat and calories there were. So you can imagine my surprise when googling "strawberry gelato recipes" brought back loads of recipes calling for either cups of cream or 6 egg yolks.

I emailed the person who brought the homemade gelato in the first place and got his recipe. Short, sweet, and easy to make. Now I'm sharing it with you :o)

Dave's Strawberry Gelato

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
3 cups washed, mashed strawberries

Simmer water and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat, add mashed strawberries, and chill in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream freezer and process according to the manufacturer's instructions.

If you do not have an ice cream freezer, pour the mixture into a shallow pan. A large glass casserole dish works well. Place the pan into the freezer. Every couple of hours, take the pan out of the freezer and use a fork to scrape through the hardening mixture. The purpose of this is to introduce air as it freezes to keep it from forming a solid block of ice.

If it is hard coming out of the freezer, allow it to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to soften before serving.

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When I made the gelato I cut the sugar down by half a cup and it worked just fine. I also cheated and chucked the strawberries into a blender instead of mashing them. I've got leftover pureed strawberries sitting in the fridge that are going to get added to banana muffins soon.