Goat Cheese and Honey Ice Cream

Goat cheese and honey ice cream

On these late summer days, when I step out into our garden and listen carefully, I hear a crowd noise that’s specific to this time of year. The bees are making a racket as they travel from flower to flower, some of those flowers so dense with pollen that one bee sends a shower of it raining down on another bee, working just below.

While those bees are hard at work on their honey supply, our days are similarly golden. We’re deep in the flavors of the harvest: sweet, full, crisp-skinned and tender-fleshed. That said, it’s been 90 degrees all week, and I haven’t had my fill of summer ice cream.

One of the first recipes I tried in my new ice cream maker and truly loved is this one, for the ways it combines the tart creaminess of goat cheese with the pungent sweetness of honey. It doesn’t much matter if you’re not a fan of goat cheese itself (or honey, for that matter). This recipe is about how the qualities of these ingredients complement each other. Goat cheese’s tanginess plays against the honey’s dense sweetness, yet neither flavor overpowers the finished product. In her book How to Make Ice Cream, author Nicole Weston suggests this recipe is accompanied well by fresh berries; I could also see it being delicious with peaches (or atop a peach pie), and I wouldn’t call you crazy if you felt inclined to add a swirl of peanut butter sauce, or chopped honey-roasted peanuts. (These are next on my list.) — Emily Spiegelman, Digital Features Editor

Goat Cheese and Honey Ice Cream

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
¼ cup honey
½ cup sugar
4 ounces goat cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups heavy cream

Directions

1. Combine milk, honey, and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring with a spatula, until honey and sugar have dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer.
2. Crumble goat cheese and vanilla together in a medium bowl. Pour hot milk mixture over the goat cheese and allow mixture to stand until the goat cheese is slightly melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Gently whisk until goat cheese is dissolved. Pour in the cream.
3. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.
4. Pour chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze as directed.
5. Transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer. Allow it to firm up for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Recipe excerpted from How to Make Ice Cream © 2015 by Nicole Weston. All rights reserved.