Happy National Ice Cream Month! We are celebrating with an amazing new ice cream flavor – Baklava Crunch – which has a super creamy vanilla ice cream base and is filled with cinnamon, walnuts, pistachios, and homemade honeycomb! It is crazy delicious and something you need right now.
Typically, vanilla ice cream recipes call for vanilla beans, but I use Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract in its place. They have a proprietary cold extraction process that preserves more than 300 distinct flavor compounds found within a vanilla bean! So you get all of that amazing natural vanilla flavor without using the vanilla bean itself. I know that you are much more likely to have vanilla extract at home than some vanilla beans, plus the other benefit of using vanilla extract is the alcohol content. It keeps the ice cream from getting too hard in the freezer. A win-win!
You can get my favorite Nielsen-Massey extract here!
Making the Vanilla Ice Cream Base
Making the ice cream base for this Baklava Crunch ice cream is super easy, the hardest part is all of the waiting! To make the base, you will combine the heavy cream, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and temper your eggs. This just means that you are adding some of your hot cream mix to the egg yolks, while whisking constantly. This is what is going to thicken your ice cream base, but you have to slowly add the hot cream while whisking to make sure that the eggs do not cook. The last thing you want is scrambled eggs in your ice cream!
Once your eggs are tempered, you will add that mixture back into the cream left in the pot. Return to heat and cook the mixture until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. If you move your finger through the base across the back of the spoon, the line should remain.
Strain the mix through a fine-mesh sieve and bring the base to room temperature. Once it is room temperature, put it in an air tight container and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Making the Honeycomb
One of the best parts of this Baklava Crunch ice cream is the pieces of honeycomb! Making honeycomb at home is really easy as long as you have a candy thermometer. But it moves very quickly, so make sure you have all of your ingredients prepared beforehand. You will also want to prepare a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and have this right next to your stove.
You will combine your sugar and honey in a large pot. Stirring frequently, bring that mixture to 295F, which is the “hard crack” candy phase that you would use for things like toffee. That is perfect for honeycomb! When it reaches this phase, it will be a nice amber color.
Once you are at 295F, remove the pot from heat and VERY quickly stir in the baking soda and vanilla extract. This will make the mixture very foamy, which creates that bubbly honeycomb structure! Once the baking soda is dissolved, which happens very quickly, immediately pour the mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. Let it sit there until it has set up and fully cooled, about 10 minutes. Then you can break the honeycomb into bite size pieces using your hands. Set aside in an air tight container until you are ready to add it to your ice cream.
Assembly Time!
Once your ice cream based has chilled, you are ready to churn and make your ice cream! You will churn the ice cream according to package instructions, to make the ice cream a soft serve consistency. Once it is churned, you can add in all of the honeycomb, cinnamon, walnuts and pistachios. Then transfer to an air tight container and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight. Then you are ready to dig in!
I like to store the ice cream in these containers – it’s like ice cream from a real scoop shop!
Baklava Crunch Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice cream maker
Ingredients
For the ice cream base:
- 2.5 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup 2% milk
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 large egg yolks whisked
- 2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
For the honeycomb:
- 1/2 tbsp baking soda sifted
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Additional mix-ins:
- 1/2 cup finely diced walnuts
- 1/2 cup finely diced roasted pistachios
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
For the ice cream base:
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, simmer the heavy cream, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Cook, stirring frequently until the sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat. While whisking constantly, slowly pour 1/3 of the mixture into your whisked egg yolks. You will do this to "temper your eggs" to make sure that they don't scramble over the heat. Whisk quickly until fully combined.
- Then add the yolk and cream mixture back to the pot with the cream, whisking constantly.
- Return the pot to medium-low heat and gently cook the mixture, stirring frequently, until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. (If you are using a thermometer, it will be about 170F)
- Strain the ice cream base through a fine-mesh sieve into an air tight container, with the lid off. Allow to cool to room temperature, and then cover and let it chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
For the honeycomb:
- While the ice cream base is chilling, you can make the honeycomb. It comes together very quickly, so make sure you have all of your ingredients already measured out and ready to go!
- Prepare a large baking sheet by covering it with parchment paper. Put this right next to where you are making the honeycomb because you want to move very quickly.
- In a large nonstick or enameled pot, combine the sugar and honey. Using a candy thermometer, cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until it is amber in color and reaches 295F (hard crack stage).
- Turn the heat off and immediately add the vanilla extract and baking soda. It will get very foamy (that's what makes the honeycomb structure), so whisk quickly to dissolve the baking soda and then immediately pour the honeycomb onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Allow the honeycomb to set up and fully cool, about 10 minutes. Then you can break the honeycomb into bite size pieces.
- Move the honeycomb to an airtight bag with all of the air removed, you don't wnat it to absorb too much moisture from the air and become soft before you have a chance to add it to your ice cream!
Assembling the ice cream:
- In a small bowl, combine your pistachios, walnuts and cinnamon. This way its easier to distribute the cinnamon throughout the ice cream!
- Remove your chilled ice cream base from the refrigerator and churn the ice cream according to your machine's package instructions. Once it reaches soft serve consistency, remove from the ice cream machine and transfer to a large bowl.
- Add your honeycomb, walnuts, pistachios, and cinnamon to the ice cream and stir to evenly distribute the mix-ins. Transfer the ice cream to air tight containers and freeze for 4 hours or overnight. Enjoy!
