Sometimes recipes pop from great simple ingredients. This is one of those recipes.
This is a decadent ice cream but the flavours are elegant and beautiful. It is essentially honey that has been caramelized to sweet sugars that is mixed in with a thick, rich custard. The ice cream is addictive, and although it sounds simple, the flavours are beautiful.
Greg and Lucy Malouf have travelled across the Middle East extensively, publishing several specialized cookbooks along their journey. This cookbook specializes in Syrian cuisine with a modern flair, a thick volume filled with amazing recipes, like this one, and photographs. I have cooked a few, definitely not enough, recipes from this book and each is spectacular. I need to complete the collection of their cookbooks, oh I wish I had a larger cookbook budget. This book is for those who are looking for spectacular Syrian cuisine.
For more delicious recipes from this cookbook click here.
Ingredients:
For the honey caramel:
1/2 cup sugar, caster preferred
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon powdered dry ginger
For the ice cream base:
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 egg yolks
4 cups heavy cream
To make the ice cream base:
Heat the cream in a saucepan and add the sugar and vanilla. Heat till warm and the sugar has completely melted.
Meanwhile, put the egg yolks in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer till thick and pale creamy, about 5 minutes.
To make the honey caramel syrup, add the sugar and honey to a saucepan and heat. The sugars will slowly begin to caramelize forming a thick syrup. Add the water and mix in while continuing to simmer. the water will dissolve into the smooth caramel. Add the ginger and stir in.
Pour the hot caramel in a thin stream into the egg yolks while beating with an electric blender. The eggs will cook in the heat and form a custard that is a soft fluffy mass.
Mix in the cooled milk and churn in an ice cream maker.