So it’s summer here, sweet sweet summer! Between pottering around in the garden, beach days, catching up with friends and family oh and having another baby (best Christmas present ever)! I’ve been dreaming of ice cream.

I had a bowl full of egg yolks (from our chickens, worth there weight in gold) left after meringue making and a mountain of pistachios left after cookie baking. So I got to thinking….and came up with salted honey and pistachio ice cream……best idea of this year!

Too be honest I don’t know if I love the ice cream or the pottery more? I got these sweet espresso cups and flower pot on our last trip to Melbourne. We always hit up Rose Street Markets and im so glad we did or I may never of discovered Urban Cartel, check out his etsy page (free shipping to Australia and NZ)

This recipe is just a basic vanilla ice cream custard base with some salted honey added mid way thru and some pistachios sprinkled over, really you could use any nuts, or omit them all together (this is not recommended).

At the moment I’m using my mother in laws sunbeam ice cream maker while I dream of my KitchenAid ice cream attachment bowl (have you seen them, they are awesome!)

Recipe is below

Salted honey and pistachio ice cream

8 Tablespoons of honey (I used pohutukawa honey)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 cup of whole milk (Lewis Road Creamery if you live in New Zealand!)
2 Tablespoons of sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon guar gum
¾ cup pistachios (roughly chopped)

In a small saucepan, heat the honey and salt until combined, remove from the heat and set aside.
In a medium saucepan combine the milk and sugar, heat until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is nearly simmering. Remove the pan from the heat.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks together, temper the eggs with the milk mixture by adding ¼ cup of hot milk to the eggs at a time, stirring consistently until all the milk is in the egg bowl. Return the egg/milk mixture to the saucepan and heat over a medium heat (stirring consistently) until the thermometer reads around 170F and the ‘custard ’ is thickened.
Pour the mixture thru a sieve into a clean bowl. Add the warm honey (it may need reheating), mix thoroughly.
Lastly stir in the heavy cream, keep mixing until the mixture is at room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and place in the refrigerator over night.
Churn the mixture in the ice cream maker according to the manual, slowly sprinkle in the guar gum (guar gum can clump if added to liquid too quickly). Pour into a container and sprinkle over the pistachios. Freeze and enjoy.