Honey Ice Cream With a Kick

Honey Ice Cream With a Kick
Daniel Krieger for The New York Times
Total Time
15 minutes, plus several hours’ chilling and freezing
Rating
4(68)
Notes
Read community notes

For this velvety, sweet ice cream with a subtle but throat-tickling kick, the chef Fany Gerson draws inspiration from her favorite honey ice cream recipe, by the cookbook author and pastry chef David Lebovitz, as well as her chile-laden childhood in Mexico. Ms. Gerson serves it as part of a Rosh Hashana feast, but it is a seasonless treat. Her toppings — chunks of creamy Manila mangoes dusted with ground red chiles, plus puffed amaranth for crunch — make it an interesting, almost sundae-like dessert. The ice cream is very soft right out of the machine, like soft serve; freeze it for at least 6 hours for something more scoopable. —Priya Krishna

Featured in: Matzo Balls and Chiles? It’s Rosh Hashana With the Flavors of Mexico

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Ingredients

Yield:1 quart
  • 1⅔cup/400 milliliters whole milk
  • ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt
  • 5large egg yolks
  • cups/360 milliliters heavy cream
  • cup floral or fruity honey
  • 2 to 4tablespoons hot honey, such as Mike’s Hot Honey
  • Fresh mango chunks; ground pequín, árbol or other ground chiles; and puffed amaranth, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (14 servings)

191 calories; 12 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 19 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 91 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Set a strainer over a medium bowl, then place that bowl over a large bowl of ice water. Set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Combine the milk, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the kosher salt in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture just to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and the remaining sugar until thick and pale, about 2 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Once the milk comes to a simmer, gradually whisk ½ cup warm milk mixture into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. Whisk the egg mixture back into the pot, cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the spoon, 2 to 3 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Pour custard through the strainer into the prepared bowl and whisk in the cream, floral honey and 2 tablespoons of hot honey. Taste and add more hot honey, if desired. Transfer to refrigerator and chill, covered, for at least 4 hours.

  5. Step 5

    Whisk the chilled custard and pour into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Serve ice cream on its own or with mango chunks, ground chiles and puffed amaranth.

Ratings

4 out of 5
68 user ratings
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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

where does one find hot honey ? Can cayenne be added to regular honey ?

I’d like to make hot honey myself - could I just add some cayenne?If so, how much?

Don't take the shortcut of not using a water bath when making your custard otherwise you'll end up with a curdled mess

I've made it by cooking honey and red pepper flakes over a low flame for a few minutes, then turning off the heat and steeping it for as long as it takes to reach the spice level you want, then straining out the flakes. You could leave the flakes in, but who knows how hot it will get over time.

The honey flavor is very intense, which makes it very unique. The texture, however, turned out amazing. I've never made ice cream with honey before but it seems to result in magic. I'd love to try adding a cinnamon stick or a couple ginger pieces to the milk to experiment with some variations. Thanks for this recipe!

Don't take the shortcut of not using a water bath when making your custard otherwise you'll end up with a curdled mess

I’d like to make hot honey myself - could I just add some cayenne?If so, how much?

I've made it by cooking honey and red pepper flakes over a low flame for a few minutes, then turning off the heat and steeping it for as long as it takes to reach the spice level you want, then straining out the flakes. You could leave the flakes in, but who knows how hot it will get over time.

The Times is not making the best choices for Rosh HaShanah since many Jews will not serve ice cream after chicken or meat. (Or, as in another NY Times recipe, add butter to a chicken recipe.) This would be unkosher. If The Times identified kosher alternatives, it would have shown a sensitivity to Jewish dietary laws. Publishing unkosher recipes for Jewish holidays is as absurd and offensive as publishing pork recipes for Ramadan luncheons (sic)... we should expect more from The Times.

I am dying for a good source of puffed amaranth. It’s readily available in Europe and so delicious and nutritious but so hard to find here. Any ideas? Puffing one’s own is a huge chore...

Is there any consensus on the best way to make ice cream with a recipe such as this one without a machine?

Where do you buy Hot Honey?

https://mikeshothoney.com/apps/store-locator

where does one find hot honey ? Can cayenne be added to regular honey ?

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Credits

Adapted from Fany Gerson and David Lebovitz

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