pushwing05 blog

Someday in the near future, I hope to begin a post with something other than an explanation of where the heck I've been. Today isn't that day.

My new excuse for being the worst food blogger on the planet is my recent move. I moved to the Clizzle-Dizzle at the end of July and took my sweet ass time unpacking my kitchen and otherwise getting my ish together. I've been wanting to live in this neighborhood for a long time, primarily because it's super walkable to about a bajillion restaurants and bars. Bonus: my new place is only 15 minutes from my office, has a huge balcony that I could do a cartwheel on if I knew how to do cartwheels, and so much closet space that I actually have a prop closet. Fellow food bloggers totally get how exciting this is. 

One of the first things I made in my new kitchen was this ice cream. As I mentioned back in February, I'm obsessed with Nancy Meyers' food-porny movie It's Complicated. Since I'm a weirdo, I decided that I want to make all the foods that Meryl Streep's character makes in the movie. I started with Croque Monsieur several months ago, and now I'm onto lavender honey ice cream.

The culinary lavender required to make this is kind of a pain in the butt to track down, but it's worth the trip to a specialty store (I found mine at Dean and Deluca). Also, the ice cream container you see in the photo is from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00381DIR0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00381DIR0&linkCode=as2&tag=abitkit-20%22%3ESweet%20Bliss%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=abitkit-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00381DIR0%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Sweet Bliss. I bought a pack of their disposable pint sized containers and a pack of their quart containers a couple years ago, and pretty much have ice cream storage for life. Homemade ice cream gets freezer burn much more quickly than commercial ice cream, and these containers buy you an extra couple days.

Here's what you'll need for about a quart of ice cream:

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup dried culinary lavender
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

In a small saucepan, heat the honey and 2 tablespoons of the lavender. Once warm, remove from the heat, and steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, sugar and salt.

Pour the heavy cream into a large bowl, and set a mesh strainer on top. Pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the lavender, and set the strainer back over the cream.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warmed milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, and then scrape the warmed egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan.

Stir the egg mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the heavy cream. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of lavender. Stir mixture until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator (I actually let mine sit for 2 nights and it was fine!) The next day, strain the mixture, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract their flavor. Throw the flowers away, and then churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. The texture of this ice cream will be similar to soft serve right after churning, and will firm up with a few hours of freezing time. Unlike many homemade ice creams, this one will not get rock hard in the freezer!

I use http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KYSLMW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003KYSLMW&linkCode=as2&tag=abitkit-20%22%3Ethis%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=abitkit-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003KYSLMW%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">this ice cream maker and highly recommend it.

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Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158008219X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=158008219X&linkCode=as2&tag=abitkit-20%22%3EThe%20Perfect%20Scoop%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=abitkit-20&l=as2&o=1&a=158008219X%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

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Source: http://abitchinkitchen.blogspot.com/2013/08/lavender-honey-ice-cream.html