Lavender & Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream

I've been feeling very girly recently, and that seems to be showing in the recipes I've been coming up with. It's probably no surprise that with the goings-on that I've got lots of smushy happy feelings, and somehow that is translating into lots of pink and shiny baking. So I'm just going to go with it. After all, Valentine's Day isn't too far away! (Although A hates Valentine's Day more than any other day and we never do anything for it)

This recipe came about because I really, really wanted to test out my shiny new ice cream attachment that I was so lucky to receive as a birthday present from my most awesome girlfriends. I also had a bunch of fresh lavender that was kindly hand-picked by my fiancé (which led to an increase in the smushy happy feelings), and a few punnets of very nice looking fresh raspberries which were begging to be used. Surprisingly, all these things came together very well.

For anyone who is wondering, the ice cream attachment for the KitchenAid works great. It's just like any of those low-range ice cream churners, you have to freeze the bowl the day before you use it, and then it just had a churning paddle that you attach to the head. After about 30 minutes on low speed my mixture was like soft-serve, and then I just transferred it to an airtight container and froze it overnight. The result was a creamy, smooth ice-cream, and a lot less effort than having to haul the mixture out of the fridge every few hours to spin it through my food processor, which is what I had to do before I had this. Another reason to hug my KitchenAid.

Now I know that a lot of people are apprehensive about floral flavours in desserts, and I totally understand that. I've had a few lavender desserts which were way too floral, to the point where it felt like you were eating a bucket of potpourri. But if you were looking for a recipe that might change your mind about floral desserts, this might be it. While I find lavender essence and dried lavender way too concentrated in flavour, the fresh lavender flowers work great. Also, you can control the number of flowers you use depending on how subtle you want the flavour to be. It infuses the ice cream with a light hint of lavender, which only hits you right as you put it in your mouth, and the tang of the raspberry swirls helps to cut off the aftertaste. Not everyone who tried this was a big fan, but I thought it was a unique flavour and I can imagine it tasting great with a lemon curd tart or a rhubarb pie. You could replace the raspberry swirls with strawberry, but I thought the raspberry worked great.

Lavender & Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream
(Adapted from this Gourmet Traveller recipe, serves 6-8)
8 egg yolks
140g caster sugar
340ml milk
340ml pouring cream
1/4 bunch fresh lavender (I used about 6-8 flowers)
1 punnet (150g) fresh raspberries, or frozen & thawed
1/4 cup icing sugar

Using an electric mixer, whisk egg yolks and sugar for 2-3 minutes on high speed until pale. Meanwhile, combine milk, cream and lavender in a heavy-based saucepan, bring to the boil over medium heat, then pour over egg yolk mixture, whisking to combine. Transfer to a clean saucepan, then cook over low heat, stirring continuously until mixture coats the back of a spoon. Strain into a bowl placed over ice, then stir occasionally until chilled. Freeze in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Prepare the raspberry sauce, puree raspberries in a food processor or blender with icing sugar and then strain to remove the seeds. Chill in the refrigerator and then swirl mixture into the ice cream mixture in a freezer-safe container before freezing the entire mixture. Makes about 1 litre.