Honey.Lavender.Vanilla.Bean.Ice.Cream.

Yes, yes, that’s what I said. Honey Lavender Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. We first tried it at our favorite restaurant, Hibiscus, but I was always intimidated to use lavender to cook with. Well, this Christmas, I made lavender sachets and lavender bath scrubs for my mom and Lane’s mom and had some of the lovely flower left over. I had no excuse to not try the ice cream!  It was made easy by my mom’s ice cream maker.

I will definitely have one of these babies on my wish list as summer rolls around. Speaking of summer….Can it come soon, please?

Anyway, I’ve only made one ice cream before and it was really easy. This one seemed a little bit more laborious, but still relatively easy.

As far as taste goes, it was definitely lavender-y. I think next time, I would use less lavender and more honey. It was a little bitter because of the lavender. Maybe I let it steep for too long. Not sure. We served it, however, with the Sour Cream Apple Pie which is plenty sweet and it worked really well with that. It’s not an ice cream that you would sit in front of the TV and have a bowl of, but served with the right thing, it works well.

The mixture in the saucepan ready to steep.

Honey Lavender Vanilla Bean Ice Cream adapted from Martha Stewart

2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup dried lavender (I purchased in the Bulk section of my Central Market)

1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/3 cup honey

5 large egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, lavender, vanilla bean and honey. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, and remove from heat. Let steep for 5 minutes. Strain mixture, reserving milk and discarding lavender.
2. Combine egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until very thick and pale yellow, 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, return milk to a medium saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.
3. Add half the milk to egg-yolk mixture, and whisk until blended. Stir mixture into remaining milk, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
4. Remove from heat, and immediately stir in cream. Strain mixture into a medium mixing bowl set in an ice-water bath, and let stand until chilled, stirring from time to time. Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Store in an airtight plastic container up to 2 weeks.