I have a mild obsession with Meryl Streep’s character “Jane” in It’s Complicated. Also her bakery/cafe, kitchen, and garden. In about 30 years I hope to have the exact same Spanish-style ranch home in Santa Barbara.

At one point in the movie, she says that she makes lavender honey ice cream whenever she can’t sleep, I knew I would have to make that exact flavor at some point!

Since local cream, eggs, and honey are pretty easy to come by in the New York area, I journeyed to Chelsea Market to gather my ingredients.  

I followed a recipe I found on epicurious.com — from the September 2003 issue of Gourmet.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream — from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy
1 cup half-and-half — also from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy
2/3 cup mild honey — from Bees’ Needs Apiary
2 tbsp dried edible lavender flowers — from Lavender By The Bay
2 eggs — from Feather Ridge Farm
1/8 tsp salt — from my salt dish

Put the cream, half-and-half, honey, and dried lavender in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, cover, and let it steep for about 30 minutes. The scent of steeping lavender cream is absolutely intoxicating, and will fill your entire kitchen.

Run everything through a sieve to remove all dried lavender flowers. Put the mixture back in the (cleaned) saucepan, and re-heat.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and salt until combined.

Add about 1 cup of the hot cream mixture to the eggs and salt, and whisk together. Then add this mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining lavender cream.

Cook this for about 5 or so minutes, or until it has thickened into a custard.

Pour the custard into a bowl, and chill thoroughly for at least three hours.

Then put it in the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn for about 30 minutes until it has solidified.

Scoop the ice cream into a container (preferably recycled — I used an old Stonyfield Farm yogurt container), and freeze until it sets.

Serve and enjoy! Just try to not eat the entire quart in one sitting… one of the many dangers of owning an ice cream maker.