Tag Archives: honey ice cream

I’ve made honey ice cream before but frankly, it didn’t rock my world. It was OK but there were no goosebumps, no sighs of utter bliss. So I was keen to to try it again, especially after meeting a nice gentleman from Golden North at Food SA’s recent Think Food event.

I’ve been a big fan of Golden North’s signature honey ice cream since I was a kid but my Dad and I were convinced that the original recipe had been tinkered with – sometimes the honey flavour was strong and other times it was barely discernible. Similarly, the colour seemed to vary from a pale buttercream to a more golden yellow.

So I took the ice cream sample the Golden North representative offered and interrogated him as fiercely as I could while spooning ice cream into my mouth.

Surprisingly, he assured me that their recipe for honey ice cream has never been changed. Any variations in taste and colour are because of the seasonal variations in the Blue Gum honey they source from a local apiary.

Blue Gum honey? No wonder I like their ice cream so much: blue gum honey – produced by bees feeding from Eucalytus globulus – is my go-to Australian honey. And, as luck would have it, I’d recently visited Buzz Honey in the Adelaide Hills and bought myself a one kilogram tub.

It seemed like the universe was trying to tell me something.

We always have a big lunch on Christmas Day with around two dozen family and friends. It’s always a joyful day, with incredible food (everybody brings a dish), plenty of merry-making and lots of kids running around.

This year I’m down for a salad and a dessert. I already know that other guests are bringing a pavlova and a hazelnut cake so have decided to do something a bit different.

So my dessert for the Festive Favourites Blog Hop – Honey Almond Fruits – has three parts: Toffee Almonds, Honey Ice Cream and Fruit Salad.

I’ve chosen this combination for a number of reasons:

• Toffee Almonds is my mother’s recipe – she’s made them every year since I can remember and I love the smell of toffee cooking.
• Golden North Honey Ice Cream was my favourite ice cream growing up and it always reminds me of long, hot Australian summers. My kids love ice cream, so they will really enjoy this part of the dessert.
• Fruit is always lovely at the end of a big meal, being both light and refreshening.
• The Toffee Almonds and Ice Cream can be made the day before and the biscuits are bought. The fruit can be washed in the morning and just cut up on the spot, making this a very easy, low-stress dessert.

There are times when you just need to make a pudding. Perhaps you’ve had a lousy day at work. Or you are feeling a little fragile. Maybe you just feel like spoiling yourself and those lucky enough to be fed by you.

Whatever the reason, the tail end of winter, with its beautiful, sunshiny days and cool nights, is the perfect time for this recipe. The voluptuous caramel pudding is soothing and satisfying while the honey ice cream reminds you that spring, and therefore summer, are just around the corner. Which is reason enough to celebrate.

This dish was inspired by a Nigella Lawson recipe. I made it for dessert one Friday night and it was so darn good that I had to make it again two days later when we had a family celebration.

It’s so simple and quick to make, too. Can you chuck some torn up croissants in a dish? Boil some sugar water? Whisk some eggs? Throw it all in the oven? Of course you can. So you have no excuses not to make this dish.

Cook it. Eat it. You won’t regret it.

By the way, I don’t make the honey ice cream – I buy a tub of Golden North honey ice cream, which was my favourite when I was a child. Eating it reminds me of long, lazy summer days spent in the pool playing Marco Polo and pretending to be mermaids and narwhales. You could substitute it with vanilla or macadamia nut ice cream. But only if absolutely necessary.

INGREDIENTS

3-4 large croissants, to fill a small oven proof dish as per above
150 mls thickened cream
150 mls full fat milk
3 large eggs, beaten
100 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 tablespoons water
Golden North honey ice cream

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (160 degrees if fan forced).

Tear the croissants into small pieces and put into a small oven proof dish until dish is comfortably full as per picture above. I used three and a half croissants.

Put the sugar and water into a small saucepan and mix to combine. Bring to the boil and then let it bubble away for about 5 minutes on a medium heat to caramelise – once it changes colour from clear to a dark orange-brown it is ready.

Turn to low heat and add cream and vanilla essence. Whisk furiously away as the sugar will start to turn into toffee and you’ll end up with chunky bits as per the picture below. Whisk fast to dissolve the toffee over a low heat.

Turn off the heat and then add the beaten eggs to the mixture, stirring to combine.

Pour mixture over croissants and leave for 10-15 minutes.

After 15 minutes the croissants should have absorbed all the liquid and be gorgeously moist.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the top is crisp and beginning to brown.

Serve with a generous scoop of honey ice cream in individual dishes.

Be prepared for requests for seconds.

Perfect for 4-6.