Honey Ice Cream With a Kick

Honey Ice Cream With a Kick
Daniel Krieger for The New York Times
Total Time
15 minutes, plus several hours’ chilling and freezing
Rating
4(71)
Comments
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For this velvety, sweet ice cream with a subtle but throat-tickling kick, the chef Fany Gerson draws inspiration from her favorite honey ice cream recipe, by the cookbook author and pastry chef David Lebovitz, as well as her chile-laden childhood in Mexico. Ms. Gerson serves it as part of a Rosh Hashana feast, but it is a seasonless treat. Her toppings — chunks of creamy Manila mangoes dusted with ground red chiles, plus puffed amaranth for crunch — make it an interesting, almost sundae-like dessert. The ice cream is very soft right out of the machine, like soft serve; freeze it for at least 6 hours for something more scoopable. —Priya Krishna

Featured in: Matzo Balls and Chiles? It’s Rosh Hashana With the Flavors of Mexico

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Ingredients

Yield:1 quart
  • 1⅔cup/400 milliliters whole milk
  • ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt
  • 5large egg yolks
  • cups/360 milliliters heavy cream
  • cup floral or fruity honey
  • 2 to 4tablespoons hot honey, such as Mike’s Hot Honey
  • Fresh mango chunks; ground pequín, árbol or other ground chiles; and puffed amaranth, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (14 servings)

191 calories; 12 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 19 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 91 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Set a strainer over a medium bowl, then place that bowl over a large bowl of ice water. Set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Combine the milk, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the kosher salt in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture just to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and the remaining sugar until thick and pale, about 2 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Once the milk comes to a simmer, gradually whisk ½ cup warm milk mixture into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. Whisk the egg mixture back into the pot, cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the spoon, 2 to 3 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Pour custard through the strainer into the prepared bowl and whisk in the cream, floral honey and 2 tablespoons of hot honey. Taste and add more hot honey, if desired. Transfer to refrigerator and chill, covered, for at least 4 hours.

  5. Step 5

    Whisk the chilled custard and pour into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Serve ice cream on its own or with mango chunks, ground chiles and puffed amaranth.

Ratings

4 out of 5
71 user ratings
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Comments

where does one find hot honey ? Can cayenne be added to regular honey ?

I’d like to make hot honey myself - could I just add some cayenne?If so, how much?

I've made it by cooking honey and red pepper flakes over a low flame for a few minutes, then turning off the heat and steeping it for as long as it takes to reach the spice level you want, then straining out the flakes. You could leave the flakes in, but who knows how hot it will get over time.

I made this several years ago, and it was delicious. I left out the hot - just not my thing - and used honey from my hives. The hives are gone, but I still have about a gallon of last years honey. This time I decided to use less egg yolks and see what happens. As expected, it wasn't as rich, but it was a good tasting, custard based ice cream.

The honey flavor is very intense, which makes it very unique. The texture, however, turned out amazing. I've never made ice cream with honey before but it seems to result in magic. I'd love to try adding a cinnamon stick or a couple ginger pieces to the milk to experiment with some variations. Thanks for this recipe!

Don't take the shortcut of not using a water bath when making your custard otherwise you'll end up with a curdled mess

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Credits

Adapted from Fany Gerson and David Lebovitz

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