Pre-freeze your freezer bowl at least 24 hours in advance!
Place the strawberries in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Pulse until the berries are your desired consistency. I really didn’t want too many large chunks so mine was fairly smooth.
In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, salt and milk together with a whisk or a hand mixer on low speed until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla, mix until combined. Add the strawberry puree and mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours to overnight. Overnight is better.
Several hours in advance, or the night before, prepare your caramel. Heat sugar in heavy-gauge saucepan over medium-high heat, swirling occasionally, until the sugar has melted and turned an amber color. Remove from the heat and pour in the cream while stirring the caramel. An oven mitt is super helpful here because the steam can burn and the caramel will sputter. If small clumps form, you can return the caramel to the heat and stir until it melts. Just know that the longer you cook it, the harder it will be in the freezer. You don’t need all the caramel so you could just remove the lumps. Stir in vanilla. Allow to cool completely before using.
Place the container that you are going to use to store the ice cream in the freezer.
Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the chilled mixture in the feed tube with the maker running. Let churn 15 minutes and then add the crushed cookies. Churn an additional 5 minutes or until the ice cream has thickened considerably. It should be slightly thicker than soft serve.
Spread 1/3 of the ice cream in the storage container. Drizzle some caramel over the surface; repeat with the remaining 2/3’s. You can further swirl the caramel with a knife if you desire, but it isn’t really necessary.
Cover with a piece of plastic wrap that touches the surface of the ice cream and doesn’t leave any space for air. Cover with an additional piece of plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band or you can use a lid if your container has one. Freeze for at least 2 hours prior to serving. It will harden substantially more after 4 hours or over night.
Notes
Yield: 1.5 QuartsStrawberry Ice Cream recipe adapted from the Cuisinart Instruction Manual.