Honey Lavender Ice Cream.

The other week we were up in Pennsylvania, and had the opportunity to visit OwowCow Creamery in Philadelphia. There I sampled five varieties of their organic ice cream, and fell in love with the honey lavender. Hands down my favorite. I knew that as soon as we got back down to Myrtle Beach, I wanted to make my own. So, using the lavender from my own two plants growing in my back yard, I followed Martha Stewart's recipe. You can check out the original recipe here. I did make a few changes to the batch I made, which are noted below.


Honey Lavender Ice Cream (original recipe from Martha Stewart)

2     cups whole milk (you can also substitute half and half for this)
1/4  cup dried lavender (I used fresh lavender and just a handful of stalks. I think this is based on your personal preference as to how much of a lavender flavor you want.)
1/3  cup honey
5     large egg yolks
1/4  cup sugar
1     cup heavy cream

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, lavender, and honey. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, and remove from heat. Let steep for 5 minutes. Strain mixture, reserving milk and discarding lavender. (I did not use a strainer for this process, simply picked out the lavender stalks and then proceeded to pull off the flower from any of the stalk, returning the little purple flower back in the milk.) 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. 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. 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. (Again, I omitted the straining step and went straight for the pot in the ice-water bath.) Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Store in an airtight plastic container up to 2 weeks. (My batch of ice cream didn't even last two days at our house!)