Honeycomb ice cream

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In a nod to her roots, New Zealand born Anna Hansen folds honeycomb through a dreamy vanilla ice cream base in this ice cream recipe. If you are sans ice cream maker, simply buy a tub of good quality vanilla ice cream, soften it slightly and fold your honeycomb through.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Vanilla ice cream

  • 1/2 vanilla pod, seeds only
  • 500ml of milk
  • 500ml of cream
  • 200g of sugar
  • 200g of egg yolk

Honeycomb

  • 245g of caster sugar
  • 55g of golden syrup
  • 95g of liquid glucose
  • 10g of bicarbonate of soda

Equipment

  • Ice cream maker
  • Sugar thermometer

Method

1
To make the vanilla ice cream base, place the milk, cream and 100g of the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil
  • 500ml of milk
  • 500ml of cream
  • 100g of sugar
2
While the milk and cream are coming to the boil, whisk the remaining 100g of sugar together with the egg yolks and vanilla seeds
  • 200g of egg yolk
  • 1/2 vanilla pod, seeds only
  • 100g of sugar
3
Once the milk and cream mixture is boiling, remove from the heat and gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture. Be careful not to add it too quickly, or you will end up with a lumpy curdled mass
4
Place the pan back on the hob over a low heat, pour the ice cream base into the pan then stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the custard thickens to the consistency of crème anglaise. Strain through a fine sieve and leave to cool
5
Meanwhile, for the honeycomb, line a deep-sided baking tray with baking parchment paper. Gently melt the sugar, golden syrup and liquid glucose together over a moderate heat in a large pan - using a large pan is important as the mixture is going to at least quadruple in volume when you add the bicarbonate of soda
  • 245g of caster sugar
  • 55g of golden syrup
  • 95g of liquid glucose
6
Turn up the heat to high and leave to boil, stirring intermittently until the golden colour begins to deepen and you just get a slight smell of caramelisation - take care not to take it any further than this as the mixture will continue to cook once removed from the heat. If you have a sugar thermometer, take it to between 140-150°C
7
Sift the bicarb and tip it into the pan. Stir vigorously for 15 seconds or so, then remove from the heat and pour out onto the parchment-lined tray, being extremely careful not to burn yourself. The mixture should continue to bubble and grow in the tray - resist the temptation to prod it or move the tray as the bubbles will collapse and you will end up with flat honeycomb
  • 10g of bicarbonate of soda
8
Once cool, smash it up with a rolling pin and store in an airtight container until ready to use
9
To make the ice cream, churn 1 litre of the vanilla base in an ice cream maker. In the last few minutes of churning, fold in 230g of the the honeycomb pieces so they are combined but still keep their shape. Freeze the ice cream for 30 minutes or so before serving
First published in 2015

Whether you call it 'fusion', 'global' or 'basically indescribable' is beside the point; Anna Hansen's food is without a doubt fresh and adventurous - you might even call it modern.

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