Chamomile Honeycomb Ice Cream
Imagine a sweet floral ice cream with bits of honeycomb crunching throughout. In this honeycomb ice cream, the smooth chamomile flavor punches through the sweet honeyed candy to have a shining moment while the honeycomb bits adds a dose of crunch to keep things dramatic.
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 1 serving
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon baking soda (sifted)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour (or corn starch)
- 1½ ounces full-fat cream cheese (blocked) ( room temperature)
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1¼ cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/3 cup dried chamomile
- 1 cup honeycomb pieces (recipe above)
Instructions
- 1
Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2
Combine the sugar, water, honey, corn syrup, and salt in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring just to combine.
- 3
Bring it to a boil over medium high heat and cook, without stirring, until it reads 296°F on a candy thermometer.
- 4
Remove the saucepan from heat and quickly but carefully stir in the baking soda (the sugar will bubble up rapidly).
- 5
Pour the bubbling sugar onto the lined baking sheet and let set completely while you make the ice cream, about an hour.
- 6
When it's completely cool, break honeycomb into pieces no larger than 1/2-inch. The honeycomb will keep in a plastic bag for a few days.
- 7
Whisk 3 tablespoons of milk with the tapioca starch in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
- 8
In a small bowl, whisk cream cheese and salt until smooth and creamy.
- 9
In a medium saucepan, combine remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, honey, and lemon zest and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Let it boil for 4 minutes.
- 10
Remove from heat and stir in dried chamomile. Cover and let steep for 20 minutes.
- 11
Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice cubes and water.
- 12
Strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve lined with a cheese cloth, squeezing all the liquid through. Return the strained milk to the saucepan.
- 13
Give the corn starch slurry one last whisk to make sure it's completely incorporated. Slowly whisk the corn starch slurry into the hot milk saucepan and bring it back to a boil over medium-high heat.
- 14
Cook, stirring, until it thickens until it lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 1-2 minutes.
- 15
Slowly pour a cup of the hot milk into the cream cheese bowl and mix until smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the saucepan and whisk until completely smooth.
- 16
Pour the ice cream base into a large 1-gallon Ziploc bag. Seal it and submerge the mixture in the ice bath until cold, about 30 minutes.
- 17
Pour the ice cream base into the bowl of your pre-frozen ice cream maker. Follow the directions on your ice cream maker to churn the base into ice cream, until it is the consistency of soft-serve, about 15-20 minutes.
- 18
Add the honeycomb pieces and churn just until evenly incorporated throughout, 1 more minute.
- 19
Pack the ice cream into an air-tight storage container or a metal loaf pan, pressing a sheet of parchment paper directly against the ice cream.
- 20
Freeze until firm and the honeycomb has softened, at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.