Honey and Lavender Ice-Cream

If you are lucky enough to get fresh honey with the hive intact, it’s a brilliant idea to keep the hive and use it to serve honey lavender ice cream to your guests.  This gourmet ice cream recipe is healthier than your regular ice cream because it uses honey instead of sugar, making it a perfect dessert option for sugar-conscious moms who crave for sweets. Lavender honey ice cream is a uniquely French treat that is rarely commercially available so it makes a great homemade experiment to impress your guests with something new that they haven’t tried before. 

Lavender honey can be naturally made by bees that collect only lavender nectar and are housed near fields of lavender flowers.  You can’t always get it and if it is available, is quite expensive. A more convenient and less expensive alternative is to make lavender-infused honey.  It is as simple as cooking lavender flowers in honey and putting it in a jar then leaving it for a few days until the flavor of the lavender flowers blends in with the honey. Thereafter, the lavender flowers are strained to make this delicious dessert. 

Honey lavender ice cream is best enjoyed with some cookies or a light pastry. For this recipe, Chef Jany Gleize combines the ice cream with a cigarette pastry made with eggs, sugar and flour.  He makes use of the hive as a bed for the golden yellow ice cream with flecks of purple lavender buds to make the plate look even more delectable and make the dessert taste and smell sweeter. Chef Glaize notes that it is very important to get fine quality lavender when making dessert, not hybrid lavender which is okay if you’re making soup.

Ingredients

250 g of lavender

honey 4 egg yolks

250 g of milk

125 g of cream small flower

400 g of dough to cigarette

7 g of lavender flower

1. The honey lavender infusion must be prepared several days before making the ice cream so that the lavender can sit in the honey and produce a more distinct flavor. Cook lavender flowers and buds in honey and store in a jar.

2. To make the ice cream, heat the milk, cream, lavender honey and eggs and stir until they are thoroughly combined and dissolved together. Let cool and put in the freezer for a few hours until they crystallize. Process the frozen ingredients in the ice cream maker and store ice cream in the fridge.

3. To make the cigarette pastry, combine sugar, flour, lavender seeds, and egg whites and mix together until it forms a creamy and even texture. Spread the cream on phyllo sheets cut in rectangular shapes place on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in a 180 degree oven for a few minutes until it browns. Once cooked, allow to cool for awhile and fold into a cylindrical shape with the aid of a rolling pin.

4. To serve, cut the hive into a rounded shape and place at the center of the plate. Scoop the ice cream and place on top of hive. Place cigarette pastry on the side and decorate with lavender flowers. Add lavender or chocolate syrup if you wish.