Recipe: Honey & Lavender Ice Cream

We were looking for a fun way to use lavender flowers rather than boiling them for tea, and came across this popular combination for an ice cream. With a few tweaks, it’s now a super-hit for parties. The recipe is fairly simple and you can make an eggless version as well by substituting both the eggs and milk for more heavy cream.

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 450ml whole milk
• 10g dried lavender
• 80ml honey
• 5 large egg yolks
• 40g sugar
• 250ml heavy cream
• Optional: 1/2 madagascar vanilla bean (seeds removed and skin)

Cooking method

1. In a medium saucepan, stir to combine milk, lavender, vanilla bean seeds, vanilla bean skin and the honey. Heat on low.
2. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes. If you simmer for too long, the lavender taste will become overwhelming.
3. Now strain the mixture out and discard the vanilla / lavender. Keep the milk back in the saucepan, but off the gas.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until they’re very thick. If you have an electric mixer, beat on medium-high speed.
5. Prepare an ice bath, you’ll need this in 5-10 minutes.
6. Return the milk to the gas and bring to a simmer on low heat. Gradually add in the egg-yolk mixture, keep stirring until blended before adding more.
7. After it’s all added, the mixture should be quite thick. Remove from heat.
8. Immediately stir in the cream while the mixture is still hot.
9. Strain into a mixing bowl resting in your ice bath. Stir every 10-20 seconds so that the ice cream gets evenly chilled.
10. Freeze in an ice cream maker, and store in an airtight container for 1 week.