Discussion Time: Perfect Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

So let's start you off with a little eye candy...

Or should I say "eye ice cream"? That doesn't really flow the same though, nor carry the same connotations. Hopefully you get what I'm saying anyway, right?

Okay, so I recently came into the ownership of an ice cream maker by rather top secret means. I remember my mom's from when I lived at home and she always made the BEST ice cream with it, and since I rarely prefer plain flavors I definitely had kitchen-tool envy. Now that I have my own, I've had the opportunity to test run it through two radically different recipes, both to pretty great success.

First I made raspberry frozen yogurt with chocolate chips. It sounded like a really great idea and marginally healthier than the standard ice cream. The recipe called for me to use some sort of magic to get all the seeds out, but since I lacked the magic tools I just went straight for the punch and used whole raspberries, greek yogurt, a touch of sugar and some mini chips. The flavor that resulted was INCREDIBLE, it was like eating a fresh raspberry with a little yogurt and chocolate stuffed into the middle, except that the seeds were almost unmanageable. I guess these recipe writers sort of know what they are talking about....

But we aren't here to discuss frozen yogurt! We are here to discuss my most favorite ice cream of all time: Honey Vanilla. I was first introduced to this two years ago when Haagen Das released their "Save the Honey Bees" version of their recipe (and seriously, go save the honey bees, it is REALLY IMPORTANT OKAY??). They have the advantage of selling it in those little pint size boxes, but I wanted to make a giant quart and a half! In true hipster fashion, I also decided to make it with the freshest ingredients possible just to see if it would make a serious difference.

Honey
I'm a pretty serious honey snob, I travel to apiaries all around the area to find the best to treat my allergies, I brave the largest farmer's market in America to talk to beekeepers, and it drives me nuts when bottles are sealed and I can't smell the honey before I buy. That being said, I had a type of honey that I really wanted to use from an apiary about two hours away, a summer blossom 2010 harvest. I bought the bottle that gave me the original honey-gasm at the farmer's market downtown (which yes, really is the largest in America and is SCARY) and so I figured I could also buy some at the local co-op. I was WRONG. Instead, I settled for the next closest thing, a wildflower honey from a much closer farm. Of course the bottle was sealed (those jerks), so I just had to trust that it would be comparable. When I got home and opened it up, I found it far inferior and stuffed it into the back of the cabinet for use in my tea. Then I took a few deep breaths and committed myself to the inevitable: I would have to use the remains of my favorite bottle for this ice cream. So I did, and boy was it the right decision! What lovely aromatics, what perfect smoothness and light flavor! Ah if only all honeys were made with such care, perhaps more people would fall in love with them...

Fresh Cream
In addition to using the best honey, I also wanted to try using the freshest cream. It seemed to make sense at the time, because then it would let through the clearest honey notes (did I mention the obsession with honey?) and finish cleanly on the palate, maximizing the overall experience. Again at our co-op, they sell same day cream from the closest dairy at amazingly good prices, so I went ahead and picked up a pint to use for this recipe. When I opened up the tiny adorable bottles, it was everything I expected: lovely creamy aroma, smooth pour, a little extra fat bits stuck to the rim. It heated up well and didn't form that sticky top layer when it cooled, it seemed I was in cream heaven. Then came time to put it into the ice cream maker. I'll probably never know if it was the fault of the cream or perhaps the weather, but it took more than two full cycles with the ice cream maker to get that stuff to set. Still, it was possibly the best smell to ever fill my house, so I was very hopeful. I spent all day at work thinking about the bliss I would find when I came home and I barely made it in the door that night before dishing myself out a bowl. And let me tell you, a choir of angels came down when that first bite hit my tongue. And the second bite! And most of the bowl! Until I suddenly realized that something was a bit off. It felt like the ice cream wasn't sitting quite the same way in my mouth, wasn't going down as smoothly as it was before. And then I realized....my mouth was coated in a layer of milk fat! A gritty, sticky, stubborn layer of nastiness! The only explanation that I can come up with is that perhaps the fat content of my cream was actually a bit too high and next time I shouldn't be quite so ambitious in purchasing the best that I can find.

However, this was still an amazing experience and it is taking a good amount of self control to not eat this ice cream for three meals a day. The recipe also includes some milk and vanilla, so I used the milk in my fridge and bought the only vanilla I could afford, but I figured the key ingredients were fresh enough to overlook this. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who loves honey or ice cream, it will change your life.

Gordon says "My mommy is crazy but I love her anyway!"

Perfect Honey Vanilla Ice Cream
Adapted from Maison du Miel's Heather Honey Ice Cream Recipe

2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of whole milk
1 vanilla bean
2/3 cup of really good honey

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and warm over medium low heat until little bubbles form around the edges. Remove from heat and let come to room temperature for at least one hour. Find the vanilla bean and remove it, cut it in half lengthwise, and scrape the pulp into the cream mixture. Add the pod back in and chill the mix overnight in the refrigerator. Remove and stir take out those pesky pods for good, then add mixture to ice cream maker and complete according the manufacturer's instructions.