Salted Honey Ice Cream combines mellow sweetness with a subtle twang of salt. It can be scooped straight from the freezer and it is exceptionally creamy. Chilly bliss.
Just in case you’ve any doubt about the season, I’m coming at you with another ice cream recipe. Salted Honey ice cream is a spin-off from a cake I shared earlier this year, which was ludicrously well received – remember my Cinnamon Chocolate Cake with Salted Honey Buttercream?
I was thinking about that cake in the heat wave a couple of weeks ago – when it was too stifling to move, let alone bake. Being ever so slightly food minded and far too hot, I started wondering what would happen if I took that buttercream flavour pairing and ran it through an ice cream maker.
And Salted Honey Ice Cream was born.
This ice cream is made using just 6 ingredients and the result is one of the creamiest, most sublime flavour combinations I’ve come across in ice cream form. Ever. The honey lends a mellow sweetness to the ice cream and duets perfectly with the subtle twang of salt. Chilly bliss.
Until I made Salted Honey Ice Cream, there were two contenders for my all-time favourite ice cream flavour:
- Mint Choc Chip (what can I say – I’m a true 1970’s child)
- Salted Caramel
But these two flavours are no longer top dog. They have been firmly ejected from the top spot. Salted Honey Ice Cream is my new best friend in frozen form.
Before we go further, I feel obliged to warn you that this frozen treat is a dangerous friend to make. My recipe replaces all white sugar with honey. Honey – classified as liquid sugar – does several things to ice cream:
- It gives a little extra body and creaminess to the ice cream
- It also lowers the freezing point of ice cream, so the mix doesn’t freeze rock solid
Alarm bells should now be ringing in your head. That’s creamy, scoopable ice cream direct from the freezer. No waiting for it to soften.
I smell danger.
Assuming you are exactly like me and can manage to never accidentally slide a spoon into the tub each and every time you reach into the freezer for the frozen peas, then I have a few serving suggestions. Although Salted Honey Ice Cream is a delight to eat on it’s own I can recommend the following:
- Serve alongside fresh strawberries – the honey-salt-strawberry combination is magical
- Go a step further and pile those strawberries and the ice cream on top of Muscovado Meringues
- Pair it with chocolate cake or a warm chocolate brownie
That’s all. I’m leaving you to think happy thoughts about honey and salt for the rest of the day. And should salted honey not be your bag, then take a look at the rest of my ice cream recipes for alternative inspiration.
Salted Honey Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 150 g ( 3 ½ fl oz) honey
- 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 ¼ tsp sea salt crystals
- 250 ml (1 cup) double (heavy) cream
Instructions
- Put the milk into a medium sized pan (heavy based) over a medium heat. Split the vanilla pod and drop into the pan. Heat until warm
- Add the honey a stir through until dissolved. Take off the heat
- Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl for 2-3 minutes until thicker and paler
- Pour the warm milk onto the yolks, whisking continuously
- Pour the custard mix back into the pan and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon
- Take off the heat. Remove the vanilla pod. Scrape out the seeds and add back into the custard
- Grind the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine. Tip into the custard and mix well
- Pour the custard into a bowl or jug, cover with clingfilm (to stop a skin forming) and cool. Once cold, transfer to the fridge to chill overnight (or for at least 4 hours)
- When ready to churn remove the clingfilm, pour in the cream and stir until thoroughly combined
Making the ice cream using an ice cream maker
- Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions
- Serve immediately or transfer the ice cream into a freezer-proof container, cover the surface directly with greaseproof paper or foil and store in the freezer. (It should be scoopable straight from the freezer – unless your freezer is exceptionally cold)
Making the ice cream by hand
- Pour the ice cream into a suitable freezer-proof bowl, cover and put it in the freezer for 1-1 ½ hours. The sides should be beginning to freeze, but the centre will be soft and slushy
- Remove from the freezer and, working quickly, use electric beaters to beat the ice cream until the ice crystals are uniform. Cover and place back in the freezer
- Repeat this process 4-8 more times at 1 hour intervals – the better the texture will be the more the process is repeated
- Cover the ice cream with greaseproof paper or foil and freeze for a further 3 hours or overnight
- Serve straight from the freezer
All I can say is, “Yum!”. Reminiscent of salted caramel ice cream, but much easier to make. Used honey from our native red gum trees. Will be a keeper . It’s in the freezer for Christmas here in Australia, where we need ice cream at this time of the year. Thanks for the recipe.
Ah Christine thankyou so much for your comment – so pleased you have this lined up for Christmas and the sunshine!
THE BEST. Seriously this is the best ice cream we have ever made at home!!!
My daughter was looking for a “healthy” ice cream recipe and due to the honey ran across this recipe. She made the “mistake” of making it during our church home group at our house and suddenly we were having to share spoonfuls with everyone who then wanted to make sure we shared this recipe. It is rich, smooth, creamy and came out of our ice cream maker the perfect consistency as opposed to most recipes which come out like soft serve. I don’t know if we’ll ever make another recipe again, although I’m a chocolate fan so need to figure out how to make this a rich chocolate flavor.
Ah Jennifer, thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. It’s still my favourite ice cream several years on. In fact, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a chocolate version recently too – just had my ice cream maker out of action recently, but I’m good to go again now, so watch this space!
Thoughts on just using sheep’s milk in lieu of whole milk and heavy cream?
Oh now there’s a good question. Honestly, I have not tasted sheeps milk at all. I’ve just googled to see if there are any recipes out there for sheeps milk ice cream – there are a few that include S.M. yoghurt too – I guess as a substitute for the cream to try to replicate that indulgent taste?? I honestly can’t say for sure whether this recipe would/ would not work with sheep’s milk as I’ve only tried it with regular cows milk. Maybe make a half batch to test? If you do give it a go, I’d be interested to hear how you get along.
Hey Jane,
thanks for your recipe!!! When do I have to put the double cream in the mix?
Best regards
Laura
Hi Laura, thanks for getting in touch. Add the cream in step 9- just before the mixture goes into the ice cream churner. Hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.
I had chopped walnuts left over and wanted to make a baklava-style icecream but couldn’t find any recipes that didn’t require way more time than I felt like investing. I found your recipe and it sounded delicious! I quick candied the walnuts first and set them aside to cool. I have to do dairy free so I substituted a coconut whipping cream and half n half and added some cinnamon to the custard. I swirled in the nuts before freezing it. Sadly, I halved the recipe because it is AMAZING! I seriously plan on making this again. Thanks!
Jessica, thankyou so much for letting me know how you got along. I’m pleased it still tasted amazing without the dairy. Oh and honey and nuts, don’t get me started on what a great combination that is 😉
How much ice cream does this make? Can it simply be doubled or do you have to make ratio adjustments. Looking to feed 14 people.
Thank you!
Hi Jake – this recipe makes enough to feed 6 people generously. I see no harm in simply doubling the recipe – just ensure your ice cream churner can handle the amount of liquid you pour into it and won’t leave you with half churned ice cream.
I’m just making a similar version of this, but I smoked the honey on my Traeger smoker grill first. Thanks for the recipe and great blog.
Oh nice. That sounds good.
Omg Jane, I made this ice-cream last week and is just out of this world . I’ve never know such an intense flavour and I love honey , so happy days ?
Karen. Just like that you have made my day (week). Thankyou so much for letting me know you enjoyed my recipe. It really does mean alot.
I would never have thought to use honey instead of sugar. Awesome since I really don’t like trying to scoop a “brick of ice cream”….that is just too much effort. Ice cream should be creamy, and start to melt as soon as you scoop…then you know you have the real deal!!
Thanks Gloria. I’m too impatient for ice cream to soften – I have been known to take a knife to it at times :). This one is still firm, not soft set – that is not my idea of ice cream heaven – just right for sinking a spoon into.
Wow this sounds amazing!! I need to get an ice cream maker!
Thanks Sam. Hurry up and get one – although you can make it the old fashioned way until you do.