Next time I'll try the generic store brand of ice cream (lower fat content=freezes harder) to hopefully get a frozen solid ice cream bar. I ended up scooping out the ice cream and serving it in bowls with the crumble on top, which was delicious. I used Haagen Daaz strawberry ice cream (my fave) and the ice cream did not freeze firm enough to come out of the silicone popsicle mold, despite being frozen in a deep freezer for over 24 hours. Let sit at room temperature until you see juices accumulating in the bag, about 10 minutes. Shake to distribute the sugar and zest, giving the bag a little massage, if needed. Love the idea, though the recipe did not work for me. Set a handful of the halved strawberries aside for garnish, then place the rest in a zip-top bag with the sugar and lemon zest. This would also be good with chocolate ice cream and crushed oreo cookies. Pour half of the ice cream mixture into a freezable sealable container or bread pan, add a 1/3 of the strawberry puree, and sprinkle 1/3 of the cookie crumbs over the top of the ice cream. I too used Haagen Daaz like the previous reviewer, and had no issues with it freezing. Pour cold ice cream mix into an ice cream maker, turn on the machine, and churn according to manufacturer's directions, 20 to 25 minutes. Spread half of the ice cream mixture over bottom layer of cake in container. Next time, I will try it with some buttery shortbread cookies and I will just pulse the strawberries in a small food processor, add the cookies (pulse) and call it a day. In small bowl, stir together softened ice cream and chopped strawberries.

The butter is not needed, and personally, I would have preferred more freeze-dried strawberries. First of all, the quantities were off for me - my popsicle maker looked pretty standard, size-wise - it is the one from William Sonoma and I could only fill 4 slots with one pint. However, next time, I will be tweaking it a bit.

I love the idea of this recipe, and it is very good as written.

Strawberry shortcake ice cream