I was starting to get seriously worried the other day when I realized I have hardly posted any ice cream this summer. Actually I only posted one, the Strawberry Sour Cream and Chili Peppers. Well I had to remedy the situation right away. I fell on a honey ice cream recipe in a magazine. I liked the idea but not that recipe, so online I went a hunting! I did keep the idea of the peppercorns.

Honey ice cream is actually hyped up vanilla ice cream. The main difference is that the ice cream is sweetened with honey instead of sugar. But oh what a wonderful difference.

Remember the Barbecue Tomatoes Stuffed with Oka recipe I recently posted? You all went crazy for this local Oka cheese. Originally this cheese was  manufactured by the Trappist monks who were located in the town of Oka near Montreal. The monks sold the cheese making rights in 1996 and had a new Abbaye Val Notre Dame monastery built – wait for it – the village where my parent’s cottage is, Saint-Jean-de-Matha. I happen to stop in the shop recently and bought a few of their products, including a wonderful non pasteurized clover flowers honey. I chose this honey for my ice cream.

Ξ Honey Ice Cream Ξ
adapted from Always Order Dessert

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
8 peppercorns
1 pinch sea salt
1/2 cup good quality honey
1 tbsp bland alcohol (optional)

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the whole milk, heavy cream, 1/2 vanilla bean, peppercorns, sea salt, and honey. Heat on medium heat just until it starts to simmer, then remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to an air-tight container, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Once chilled, remove the vanilla bean and peppercorns, mix in the alcohol and then pour into your ice cream maker, freezing according to manufacturer’s instructions. If you like drizzle with honey when serving.