If you don’t have fresh lavender, use dried lavender blossoms. Just make sure the lavender is for culinary use only.
Excusez-moi? Happy Bastille Day! “Vive la France!”
Honey Lavender Ice Cream
Creamy ice cream infused with honey and subtle hint of lavender.
Ingredients
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup fresh or dried lavender flowers
- 1 ½ cups 2 % milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 5 large egg yolks
Instructions
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Heat the honey and 2 tablespoons of the lavender in a small saucepan. Once warm, remove from the heat and set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
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Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.
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Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. Pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavor as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.
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In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warm egg yolks back into the saucepan.
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Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heat proof 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. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of lavender flowers and stir. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
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Before churning the mixture strain again pressing on the lavender flowers to extract their flavor. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Previous years posts: Don’t forget about these great recipes
July 2017 post: How to make French Croissants
July 2016 post: Strawberry Cherry Coriander Ice Cream
I am going to make this recipe for my dad, who loves honey. I’m going to leave out the lavender so that the taste is purely honey, and also add a honey swirl throughout the ice cream. I will probably need to reduce the amount of honey in the base due to the swirl. Thanks for the recipe! I’ll make the actual recipe in a future batch for the well-matched flavor combination.
(Not shouting. For some reason my comment window is only rendering all-caps. Even tried a copy/paste. Perhaps it gets fixed when I submit?)
I LOVE the honey swirl. I hope your dad loves it! I’m sorry about the “all caps” on my comment page. I’m trying to fix that. But it does come through normal. Just caps while typing 🤷🏼♀️
Would it be possible to make this without an ice cream maker??
I have never tried it, but it is possible. Try this “freeze and stir” method by David Lebovitz: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/making-ice-crea-1/
Let me know if you like the method.
I accidentally put all of the 1/4 cup in the honey. Should I proceed without/with adding lavender later?
If possible to answer asap. Thanks
I'm so sorry I didn't see your question 3 days ago. I hope you figured out something and yes, I would have just proceeded without adding additional lavender.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Why thank you, Sue, for your kind comment.
just made your icecream. excellent!! thank you so much for posting. kudos to ya
Thank you so much for your comments. I really want to make the rose flavored. That sounds AMAZING!
hello, I just made a batch of your recipe. Only I doubled it. One for lavender and one with rose petals. amazing!!! thank you sooo much for posting what is an obvious talent and creativity. (the recipe n added bonus pics). Kudos to ya! Frany
I just made a batch of your recipe. Only I doubled it. I made one of lavender and one with rose petals. Fantastic. wow… thank you so much for posting your creative work and obvious talent! KUDOS to ya. Frany
I just bought an ice cream maker and am excited to try this recipe. I just wondered, though, if the amount of lavender you use would be different if you used the dried instead of fresh (like with most herbs). I'd like to try this and don't have any lavender. I did find some dried at Marshall's. BTW, I made the the Sticky Coconut Chicken today and WOW, it was wonderful! I absolutely love this site! Thanks! I'm beginning to feel like a gourmet chef!
Fun!
I generally use less dried herbs. Try using 2 tablespoons of dried herbs for this recipe. When using dried herbs, just make sure they are for culinary use and not potpourri. Many of the craft stores carry lavender that is scented with perfumes and shouldn't be used for cooking.
I'm so thrilled you made the sticky chicken. It's such and easy "go to" meal. thanks for commenting.
This is one delicious ice cream recipe and the photos are great you also have a skill on photography aside from making delicious ice cream. Thanks for sharing this recipe and hope I can read more recipes from you.
Thanks you, Chris, for such a kind comment. This IS fabulous ice cream and I'm most grateful for the photography compliment. I shot these photo's when I barely knew how to turn on a camera. I'd point, shoot, then pray for success. Have a great day.
Did a taste test while it was still mixing in the ice cream maker. Yum!!! A bit on the sweet side for me. Has anyone tried without the sugar or with less? How did it turn out?!
You could try reducing the sugar altogether and just use 1/2 cup honey. Or reduce honey to 1/4 cup.
This is one great step-by-step process of making ice cream. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post of yours. Will definitely try this recipe this weekend.
Hi, I'm not a huge fan of lavender, but I'll try this using lemon thyme… and top the finished ice cream with raspberries and a drizzle of honey. Janet, I just came across your site today. Wonderful recipes. Thank you for sharing!
That just sounds divine. Let me know how it turns out. I'd love to try that combo myself sometime.
I agree with you, Jennifer, the honey flavor is quite strong. If you lessened the honey I think it would bring out the lavender. Either way it's fabulous ice cream. I just LOVE lavender!
My good friend just made a batch of this by my request. My favorite ice cream ever, is this honey lavender ice cream that I could get at the South Pasadena farmers market in California. This came very close, and it was absolutely amazing!! I'm going to buy an ice cream maker just so that i can make it on my own another time. In the end, I will probably put a little less honey, but amazing recipe nonetheless. Thank you!! 🙂
I'm obsessed with lavender as well. I purchased a lavender cookbook. It's awesome. I think the family is tired of eating flowers!
we have a lavender vendor at our local farmer's market and i've become obsessed! especially with their lavender honey. I'm definitely going to try this recipe – thanks!
Thank you, Laurie. This ice cream is so rich. I couldn't stay away from it. I love the flavors of Lavender. I just bought a lavender cookbook and I'd love to post ALL the recipe, but that might be lavender overkill???
Lavender flower lends a wonderful flavor to so many recipes. I am going to have to try this ice cream recipe. I have the same ice cream maker. Beautiful pictures too.
Why thank you, Damsel.
Wow, beautiful photos…looks delicious!