With all this hot weather I thought I should share a cool treat with you! With honey and honeycomb chunks to sweeten and a little bee pollen too, this ice cream not only cools you down, it gives you a little dose of allergy “medication”! Bee pollen is known to help reduce seasonal allergies and is full of healthy essential amino acids and minerals.
You can, of course, exclude the pollen if you have any severe allergy concerns or just don’t like the taste/texture. We added quite a lot to our recipe, and it turned out to be a little much, making the ice cream have a slight sandy texture that some of us didn’t like. We’ve reduced the amount in the recipe to half of what we used for this reason. You can also leave it out and only add pollen as a garnish on top, which will allow you to control how much you use.
We made our recipe with an ice cream maker, but we are including instructions for using two resealable plastic bags in case you don’t have one.
Yummy yummy heading to your tummy!
Ingredients:
- 100g honeycomb, frozen, then cut into cubes about 1cm by 1cm (works even better if honeycomb is crystallized, & no need to freeze ahead if crystallized)
- 300mL double cream
- 250mL whole milk
- 40 grams honey
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon pollen (optional)
*For bag method:
- 3 cups ice (cubes or chips)
- ⅓ cup kosher salt
- 2 resealable bags, one extra large and one regular sized if possible
Directions:
- Put the cream and milk in a saucepan and heat to just below boiling point. Whisk the honey, egg yolks and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Slowly pour in the hot milk mixture until everything is combined.
- Wipe out the saucepan and pour the mixture back into it, cooking over low heat stirring all the time until the custard has thickened to just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Leave to cool.
- ICE CREAM MAKER: Churn in an ice cream machine according to it’s instructions. Scrape into a freezer container and fold in the chunks of honey comb and pollen. Place in the freezer to finish solidifying.
- BAG METHOD: place the cooled custard into the large resealable plastic bag and push out any extra air, seal the bag. Combine the ice and the kosher salt inside the extra large bag. Now add the smaller bag into the bag of ice and salt. Shake vigorously for 7 to 10 minutes (you may want to get the whole family involved in this part) until the ice cream has hardened. Remove the custard from the bag, fold in honeycomb and pollen. Enjoy or place in the freezer to harden further.
Enjoy, and let us know if you have any feedback! We will update this recipe to include any tips, tricks or solutions to any trouble spots you come across when you try it yourself.
Stay buzzy,
Huckleberry Hives
P.S. I've shared this recipe with my brother's honey business, Nith Valley Apiaries, so you may come across it on their blog as well! Support your local beekeepers!