Lavender Vanilla Honey Ice Cream

I took a road trip to the North Fork of Long Island, NY this week and got to stop by a few of my favorite farm stands and Lavender by the Bay! Lavender by the Bay grows a few different varieties of lavender and they also have cooking lavender. The farm is really beautiful and when the lavender is in full bloom, you can sit amongst the rows of lavender.  Beware of the honey bees since the farm also produces its own honey and there are signs all around notifying visitors of any allergies to bees!  I've never actually cooked with lavender before but I love the fragrance so I figured it would be fun to try to incorporate into a recipe. Since it's been such a nice summer and the weather today was pretty warm, I decided to make ice cream- lavender vanilla honey ice cream!  For those of you who are intimidated with making ice cream, I don't use an ice cream maker since I don't really don't have room to store one in my tiny kitchen space, so have no fear.  I've found that with a little patience, you can make great ice cream without an ice cream maker so try this recipe out!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of whipping cream

1 1/2 cups of cream (light or heavy cream)

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 Tbsp of cooking lavender (I used some that I picked up from Lavender by the Bay)

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp honey (I used Buckabee Honey, found on Long Island, NY)

3 egg yolks

Directions:

Combine the lavender, honey and 1 cup of whipping cream in a stovetop pot and put over a low heat.  Stir for about 5 minutes, remove from heat and put on the side to allow the lavender to soak into the cream for about a half hour.  In another bowl, combine sugar, and egg yolks and beat with a whisk.  Add this to the stovetop over low heat again and stir constantly until the yolks have been fully combined and slowly add the rest of the creams. Continue stirring for another 10 minutes.  During this time, you can sift out the lavender through a small sized colander by placing another bowl underneath it to catch the cream, honey and lavender flavored mixture.  Add this mixture to the stovetop pot and gently combine.  Remove from the stovetop and allow to cool.  Add the mixture to a freezer proof container, or even a loaf pan does the trick.  Layer the mixture into the pan, spreading evenly and place into the freezer.  It takes about 8 hours for the mixture to harden and then you'll want to fold the cream over, working the mixture and then place back into the freezer.  Sprinkle some additional cooking lavender on top for an added burst of color.  Scoop and serve- it's as easy as that!