While I was Pitlochry, I had a lovely vanilla and honey ice cream. It was a little sweet for my tastes but it was delicious nonetheless. I had bought some local Perthshire honey at the same shop and have attempted to recreate the ice cream to my taste preference.

The bought ice cream had swirls of honey running all through it like caramel. I tried to do the same thing but waiting until the ice cream was almost done churning before I put in the honey. I underestimated a bit as the ice cream was a bit softer than I had thought and the honey got churned into the ice cream. It was still really good. Being completely unbiased, I think the taste of my ice cream is better than the one I bought as it’s less sweet and the honey can be tasted throughout the ice cream instead of in swirls. Their ice cream did have a nicer consistency and was creamier. I think their dairy is much better though and I worked with what was available to me. I did use mostly organic ingredients though.

I love the way the vanilla bean speckles look throughout the ice cream. I bought the vanilla beans at Costco for $15 for 10 beans! =) I have them in the freezer as I hear they last longer there. I had bought some vanilla beans before that I put in the fridge and I was so stingy to use them that they ended up getting hard and when I finally did use them, it was difficult to scrape out the beans. So far the freezer has worked out for the beans.

The heather honey is very noticeable in the ice cream. It’s very floral and it tastes almost like a flower-flavored ice cream. I actually think I put in more honey than necessary. I think even less honey would’ve been better as it was still a bit sweet for my taste. Perhaps next time I would omit the sugar all together and just use the honey.

I was also thinking of trying either a creme fraiche and honey ice cream or gelato next time. I love having honey on my yogurt and I think it’ll have the same sort of taste.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here is my recipe for the ice cream.

Vanilla and Honey Ice Cream

3/4 cup whole milk*

3/4 cup heavy cream*

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise with seeds scraped out

2 tablespoons Perthshire Heather honey (Any type of honey will do but Heather honey is unbelievably floral)

Cook milk, cream and vanilla pods together in a saucepan over medium until it starts to bubble around the edges. Make sure you watch it carefully as it’ll bubble over easily. Take it off the head and allow to steep for 10 minutes.

Put saucepan back on the heat and mix eggs and sugar together. Whisk a little of the milk mixture into the eggs to temper and then pour the egg and sugar mixture into the saucepan, whisking continuously. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes until ice cream base is thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

Pour the base their a sieve and lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the base to prevent skin from forming. Chill in fridge overnight.

Next day, follow ice cream machine directions and pour honey into the ice cream while it’s churning. Pour into a container and stick in the freezer for at least overnight before eating. It’s better after it marinates in the freezer.

* You can also substitute for 1 1/2 cup half and half. You can pretty much use any ratio combination of milk and cream to make it creamier or less so. I think all cream is a little too rich for me and usually I did 2:1 cream to milk but I ran out of cream this time. All milk will give you gelato which is also nice. I often substitute all milk in ice cream recipes to make gelato.

This recipe makes one pint as I like to make small tubs but it can be easily doubled to make a quart.