We asked Dorie for her favorite recipe for strawberry season, and she gave us this luscious one from her latest book, “Dorie’s Cookies”.

Makes a generous quart:

Everyone’s got their own way of determining that summer has arrived. For me, when I’m in Connecticut, it’s the first basket of local strawberries. While I seem to eat most of the berries out of hand (few baskets make it back from the farm stand untouched), I always make Strawberry Shortcake Cookies, compote, fruit salads, jams and, more recently, this ice cream. I’ve made other strawberry ice creams but none has stayed as smooth and creamy as this one; not a rock-hard piece of berry to be found.

The keys to the superb texture are vodka, honey and powdered milk. I puree the ingredients in a blender, but if you’ve got a food processor, it’ll do a fine job.

And if you love this ice cream as much as I do, you’ll make it with other berries. The recipe will work with blueberries, raspberries or blackberries.

About 8 ounces (about 226 grams) fresh strawberries, hulled

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk, shake before measuring

½ cup (100 grams) sugar

2 tablespoons honey

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream

3 tablespoons powdered milk

2 tablespoons vodka

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Put the berries, buttermilk, sugar, honey and salt in a blender (or a food processor) and whir until the berries are thoroughly pureed. (Smoothness can take a few minutes.) Scape down the container as needed. Add the remaining ingredients and whir until the mixture is smooth again. Scrape down the container and make certain that there isn’t a clump or two of milk powder lurking on the sides or bottom.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s directions. You can serve the ice cream straight from the churn as a quickly melting soft-serve, or pack it into a container and freeze until you need it. It will take about 5 hours for the ice cream to reach prime scoopability.

Storing: Packed in an airtight container, the ice cream will retain its lovely texture for about 1 week.