When the mercury reaches the 30s the only thing I feel like eating is ice cream! So this bank holiday weekend, I made two types of ice cream; lavender and then fig. I’m a huge lover of lavender, I think it’s both distinctive and elegant. This ice cream in my opinion is sublime! The lavender flavour is just enough to be present but not overpowering so you feel like you are eating soap. We recently visited a lavender farm near Seven Oaks and I was really inspired by the beauty of the fragrant fields and of course the abundance of lavender edible goodies. I’m still very new to ice cream making, but David Lebovitz’s ice cream recipes have so far yielded great results. My pistachio gelato which I posted earlier is his recipe as is the fig ice cream recipe to come.

Ingredients

125ml good quality honey
8g dried or fresh lavender flowers
375ml whole milk
50g sugar
Pinch of salt
375ml double cream
5 egg yolks    

Method

1. 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.
2. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.
3. Pour the cream in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
4. Pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavour as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.
5. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.
6. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling, then scrape the warmed egg yolks mixture back into the saucepan.
7. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.
8. Pour the mixture through the strainer and stir it into the double cream and whisk well.
9. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lavender flowers and stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator.
10. The next day, before churning, strain the mixture, again pressing on the lavender flower to extract their flavour.
11. Discard the flowers then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.