Recipe 28: Honey Sunflower Seed Ice Cream

When I first picked up Lindsay Clendaniel’s book Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States however many months ago, this recipe immediately caught my eye (perhaps because it’s the first one…).  Sunflower seeds are my favorite snack, and I love juxtaposing flavors like salty and sweet.  It’s always surprising what a good combination that is, whether you’re eating yogurt-covered pretzels or fries and a Frosty.

Unsurprisingly, this recipe turns out wonderfully.  It’s not too firm or heavy, and the wildflower honey has this really interesting, dark, almost buttery flavor that pairs excellently with the salty, crunch sunflower kernels.  I only had to make one tweak to the milk-heavy cream ratio.  The original recipe called for a 1:2 ratio, and that is not right.  You should never have more heavy cream than milk in your recipe.  Heavy cream has a butterfat content of about 35%, which means that there will be way, way too much butterfat in your ice cream and you’ll get that weird oily mouth feel.  If you have other dairy sources like half and half or coconut milk, you can tweak the ratio, but overall, there should be more milk than cream.

However, that’s the only change I had to make, and it was a perfectly painless process.  If you incorporate that slight change, you’ll get a delicious ice cream that you’ll absolutely love, I guarantee it.

Ingredients

• Toasted Sunflower Seeds
• 1 tbsp fruity olive oil
• ¾ cup raw sunflower seed kernels
• 1 ½ tsp sea salt
• Ice Cream Base
• ½ cup wildflower honey (or dark honey of choice)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups milk
• 5 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. First prepare the sunflower seeds.  Coat a heavy skill with olive oil, removing the excess.  Add the sunflower seeds and stir lightly to coat.  Sprinkle salt over the seeds and toast over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the seeds start to brown and become fragrant – about 5 minutes (If you have pre-salted sunflower seeds, be sparing on the extra salt.).
2. Once toasted, let the sunflower seeds sit in a pan for a few minutes before transferring to a sealable container to cool (They need to be completely cool before adding them to the ice cream later.).
3. Next make the ice cream base.  Make sure the honey is fluid and easily poured (If it’s not, warm it up a bit.).  Pour honey and cream into a medium bowl, mix, and set aside.
4. Whisk the egg yolks in another medium bowl and set aside.
5. Combine the milk, sugar, and pinch of salt in a medium saucepan.  Warm it over medium heat until the mixture is hot and the sugar is dissolved – about 4 minutes.
6. Temper the egg yolks by slowing pouring in the milk mixture ½ cup at a time, whisking constantly until combined.
7. Return the yolk-milk mixture to the pan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
8. Remove from the heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into the bowl with the cream and honey mixture.  Mix well and cool to room temperature.
9. Cover and refrigerate base until well chilled – at least 4 hours.
10. Once chilled, pour the base into an ice cream maker canister and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
11. Just before the ice cream is finished churning, add 1/3 – ½ cup of sunflower seeds, leaving some to sprinkle on top of the finished ice cream.
12. Once churned, transfer to a freezer-safe container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours.

I really love this recipe though it’s probably not something you can eat a ton of.  I’m not a honey-lover, so the flavor is really unique to me.  Wildflower honey has this great flavor that’s really rich, dark, kind of buttery, and maybe a touch sour.  It comes through strongly in this ice cream and is very, very sweet, so if you don’t much like sugar, you might want to add less honey.  The addition of the sunflower kernels was inspired as their saltiness helps cut down on the sweetness, making it much more palatable.  Overall, this ice cream is a lot of fun to eat in the summer, combining two of my favorite summer treats.  I highly recommend you try it.

Enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 4 hours
• Ice cream set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: very sweet with a strong flavor of dark honey that is rich, buttery, and just a little sour; the saltiness and crunch of the sunflower seeds mitigates and pairs well with the flavor
• Difficulty: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium (some dark honeys are very expensive)
• Makes: approximately 4 or 5 cups