Gourmet Honey Lavendar Ice Cream

A truly luxurious and delectable treat that brings a touch of gourmet elegance to your BBQs or balmy summer evenings in the garden. 

We're aiming for a gentle fragrance of lavender mingling with creamy, pure lavender honey ice cream, a dream for your taste buds!

This recipe is delightfully simple. Whether you have an ice cream maker or not, you can create this with just a few fresh ingredients and you'll be satisfying your floral sweet tooth in no time. We provide instruction for your ice-maker or making without one! 

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 egg yolks (room temperature)
• ¾ cup Maters & Co Purple Lavender honey
• 2 tablespoons dried culinary lavender (optional)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method With Ice-Cream Maker

• Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan.
• On low heat, mix consistently, then slowly simmer whilst continuing to stir for twenty minutes.
• If using edible lavender you can choose to sieve ingredients into a heat proof container. 
• Let the custard mixture cool for at least two hours.
• Stir the cooled custard and add to the ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Ice cream should double in volume and be solid, but soft when done.
• Drizzle with our delicious purple lavender honey.
• Top with crumbled shortbread for an extra decadent finish!

Method (without Ice-Cream Maker)

• Create an old fashioned custard ice cream by combining egg yolks, heavy cream, fresh or dried lavender flowers, honey and salt. This combination will yield in a velvety smooth ice cream.
• Slowly mix and simmer the ingredients for twenty minutes, then letting the mixture cool completely. Do not overheat your mixture as you do not want to cook the eggs, just thicken the mixture for the right consistency. 
• Pour the mixture into your baking dish.
• Place it in the freezer for 90 minutes.
• Remove from the freezer and whisk the mixture, scraping the sides of the dish well. Use a sturdy whisk or hand mixer to whip the mixture a bit as it begins to freeze.
• Return to the freezer.
• Continue to freeze, checking on ice cream mixture every hour. Break up large ice pieces with your mixer, scraping the sides each time, and then return to freezer.
• After a couple of hours, it should begin thickening to a slushy soft-serve consistency. Once it reaches that stage, you can serve it or cover it with a lid and return to the freeze until it firms and scoops easily.

Note: Ice cream made without a machine will freeze to a very firm consistency after a day or so in the freezer. However, it will thaw nicely at room temperature after 10-15 minutes and will be perfectly scoop-able.

Storage

Store your homemade ice cream in a sealed, air tight container that’s easy to scoop from. Because homemade ice creams often aren’t prepared with any preservatives or stabilisers, consume within two weeks.