Wednesday, July 12, 2017

ICOTW: Salted Honey Ice Cream


I like honey.  It's a little pricey but is so tasty on top of unsweetened (or little sweetened) cereal, in smoothies (this remains a favorite), or in a cuppa hot tea.  I certainly use plenty of plain white sugar (so many baking projects, my beloved sun tea) but honey has my heart. 

I was very intrigued when this recipe for salted honey ice cream showed up in my Pinterest feed.  I was immediately on board with trying it.  Added "salted" in front of anything seems to be a thing right now (not that I'm immune: chocolate cupcakes with a salted caramel buttercream and salted chocolate chip cookies).  In this case the salt seemed like it would help cut some of the sweetness of the honey which, trust me, this ice cream needed.

You will not miss the honey flavor in this one.  Not at all.  It is super sweet.  Incredibly sweet.  I don't understand much about mixing flavors but somehow adding chocolate chips to this made the honey flavor less overwhelming.  I don't understand how adding more sugar makes the sugar less obvious but Matt discovered it on his first bowl and that's how we enjoyed all the rest of ours. 

As with most ice cream recipes I post, this one does require a little time over the stove and separating some eggs.  Tempering eggs is not my favorite, at all, and I don't make many ice cream recipes that call for that (it might be my two decade aversion to eating eggs outside of baked goods) but it's not nearly as difficult as I've built it up in my head to be. 

In the interest of making a more complex flavor I did use two different types of honey - the standard off the shelf stuff from Aldi that I buy for everything and a tiny jar of homemade honey from Matt's uncle.  Ok, "complex" flavor and wanting to use up a jar of  honey that had been sitting there for over a year.  You'll be perfectly fine just using a jar of whatever you have in the cupboard. 

This is not the easiest ice cream recipe I've posted here (see: anything no-churn, popsicles...) but not the hardest either.  If the idea of honey ice cream intrigues you as well, give this a shot!


Salted Honey Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
-½ cup (8TB) honey
-¾ tsp sea or kosher salt
-1 cup whole milk
-2 TB sugar
-4 egg yolks
-1 cup heavy cream

Directions
1) Heat the honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat for a few minutes.  Stir in the salt.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2) In a medium sauce pan, stir together the milk and sugar over medium until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is slightly bubbling.  Once it's simmering, remove from heat and set aside.

3) In a medium mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolks.  Then you'll temper the eggs.  Whisking the entire time, add a small amount of the hot milk to the eggs.  Keep whisking.  Slowly add the rest of the milk, while whisking.  Once all the milk has been incorporated, return the milk/eggs to the saucepan and place over low heat.  Cook, stirring constantly, until it reaches 170°-175° on an instant read thermometer and the mixture will coat the back of a spoon.

4) You can pour this whole mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl (I skipped this step, it's to catch any bits of cooked egg).  Add the honey to the egg/milk mixture, mixing well.  Then stir in the heavy cream, stirring until the whole thing is room temperature.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

5) Churn according to the directions for your machine (mine takes 20-30 minutes).  Pack into a freezer container and press a piece of parchment paper on top, pressing out as many air bubbles as possible.  Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. 

This ice cream was soft enough that it didn't require counter time before scooping!



Slightly modified from A Cozy Kitchen

___________________________________________________________________
In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites! 

No comments: