HONEY ICE CREAM WITH RASPBERRIES AND GRAHAMfeatured

I liked boys from a very early age. I can tell you clear back to kindergarten which boys I had crushes on, *cough Jeff Faborg cough*. So it’s not a shocker that when Valentine’s Day rolled around I was all in. Inevitably, in the pack of store bought valentines, there was always one design that was the cooler than the others or had a message that could maybe, possibly, in the most passive aggressive sort of way, convey all of my deep deep deep feelings of love, making it known to my crush that my heart was theirs for the taking… if they could just stop playing dodge ball at recess long enough to look in my direction. Also not surprising, none of my grade school crushes were picking up what I was throwing down on Valentine’s Day. Even with the carefully chosen conversation hearts that I hand picked inside the envelope. Tragic.

Nowadays, we can do cooler things for the people we love on Valentine’s day. My suggestion? Order some of these containers from Amazon, make homemade ice cream and surprise your favorite people with something different than your usual valentine’s routine. And hopefully, fingers crossed, it will go over better than my failed elementary school secret crushes.

Recipe: Honey Ice Cream with Raspberries and Graham  |  Soundtrack: Sam Cooke

• 9 egg yolks
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 18 graham cracker squares  or 9 graham cracker rectangles (one full package)
• 5 tbsp melted butter

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the cream, milk, honey and salt. Stir over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer and bubbles start to form around the edges. Remove from the heat.

Using a measuring cup, slowly, cup by cup, add half of the cream mixture to the egg yolks whisking continually. It is very important that you whisk while you add the hot cream. If not the eggs will curdle. No bueno. Return the egg mixture back to the saucepan with the remaining cream mixture. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. You should be able to run your finger along the back of the spoon and the path should remain. This usually takes about 3-5 minutes. Remove from stove.

Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl. Pour cream mixture through the strainer. Place bowl over an ice bath (ice bath = a large bowl full of ice and water). Let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove bowl from ice, cover and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. In order for the ice cream to set up properly this step is very important. You need the ice cream base to be really chilled all the way through.

While this the base is chilling, place the raspberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a food processor or blender. Pulse until the raspberries are blended to your desired liking. I like more chunky berries, but if you want them smoother, pulse a bit longer. Place in a container in the refrigerator.

In a food processor, place the graham crackers and pulse until they are crumbs. Pour in the melted butter and pulse until combined. Place graham crumbs in a bowl. I prefer to leave these out on the counter so they harden up a bit.

Once the ice cream base is properly chilled, pour into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions. When ice cream is almost done churning, add the graham crackers and raspberries. You can also add the berries once you’ve poured the ice cream into a freezer safe container if you want more of a ripple appearance to the ice cream. Freeze until firm; usually several hours to overnight.

by