This week our selection from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop was Lavender-Honey Ice Cream. I thought that sounded like a very nice choice, since I love honey in ice cream. The recipe calls for fresh or dried lavender, which is heated with the honey and then steeped. I didn’t have any lavender, and didn’t want to spend hours trying to find it. But I did have a jar of a favorite honey, which happens to be lavender flavored. So that is what I used. The recipe below modifies David’s recipe so that you just use the lavender honey instead of using fresh or dried lavender. That is the only variation from the recipe.
This ice cream was very good if you like the flavor of honey. It is very sweet, so probably not the best choice for those who don’t like a very sweet ice cream. The lavender flavor was very subtle, and might be stronger if you used the actual lavender. This ice cream mellows out after a day or two in the freezer. I wasn’t sure if chocolate would pair well with it, but I had leftover chocolate ganache in the fridge, and I heated that up and poured it over the ice cream, and the flavors really complemented each other.
Lavender-Honey Ice Cream Makes about 1 quart
1/2 cup lavender-flavored honey
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
Warm the honey, milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh stainer on top; set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator, or until completely chilled. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.