In our How to make Lavender Sugar post, I wrote a section with “riffs on the lavender theme:” a few more ideas and thoughts for lavender in recipes. When I suggested making a Lavender, honey, and goat cheese ice cream, I wondered if that was a too complicated idea. Low and behold, a few of you commented that you’d love to see this recipe. Ask and you shall receive, Hipcooks! And lucky me, I got to enjoy this delicious ice cream “in sacrifice” for this blog post.
Lavender, honey, and goat cheese ice cream is my kind of dessert. It’s intriguingly floral (meaning, not too much!), not too sweet and delightfully tangy. I’m not one for overly sweet things. Ice cream is often so. This one balances the hint of sweetness with a bit of acidity, coming from lemon and goat cheese. It is sophisticated and complex — just like me (right?!)
To give the ice cream a bit of color, I plopped in a few blackberries to the custard base. This is not necessary, although I personally like the resulting pale purple color.
No ice cream maker? No problem! Here’s a Lavender Granita recipe. It’s refreshing and delightful, and it requires no special equipment!
This recipe requires an ice cream maker.Ingredients
3 cups milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1¼ cup cream
¼ cup honey
a handful of lavender blossoms, or a teaspoon of dried lavender
2½ ounces room temperature goat cheeseInstructions
In a small bowl, mix a couple of tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch until it's dissolved. Set it aside.
In a large pot, add the rest of the milk, cream, honey and lavender, and heat. Let this mixture come to a simmer, turn off the heat, and stir in the cornstarch slurry. Stir for about a minute, until the mixture thickens slightly. Add the goat cheese. Let it sit for a minute or two and stir until smooth. Allow it to cool and churn in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Notes
7 comments
This ice cream looks so delicious-and that beautiful color makes it even more tantalizing. I’m definitely going to try it. Thank you so much for the recipe!!!!
This sounds incredible! The color is really lovely.- love the blueberry hack!
What a beautiful color, I love the addition of the berries for the color. So no eggs! I love that and I bet it makes it super creamy. YUM! Now to go hunting in my neighborhood for some lavender. What kind of honey do you recommend? I have a few different types and I wouldn’t want a stronger one to overwhelm the lavender.
Thanks for the comments. Tina! Yes, for the honey you’re right, go for something mild. Did you know you can also infuse honey with lavender blossoms to create lavender honey? Delicious in Earl Grey Tea! xo Monika
I think you are reading my mind Monika! I had a lovely earl grey this morning and thought some sweetness would be nice! Have you ever made ice cream using tea as a flavor? Curious if infusing the milk with earl grey would be nice?
Yes! I’ve made green tea ice cream, chai ice cream, and jasmine ice cream. All lovely! Earl grey would be great, esp the kind with extra bergamot. I’ve used it to flavor cream for chocolate truffles. It tastes amazing.
I made this last night and it was delicious!!!! I think I could have used a few more blackberries to pull out a bit more color, but we ate it so fast it didn’t really matter, ha!