Rockin' the West with Chef Larry Edwards: Valentine's Pure Honey Ice Cream

You won't find this sweet sensation at any ice cream parlor or frozen custard shop. You won't find it in the frozen food aisles at your local market and no, you won't find it at any restaurant (except one, of course). You will, however, find it served at royal galas, presidential parties and snob hob-nobs.

When we created Pure Honey Frozen Vanilla Custard, we had only one thing in mind. We wanted to blow our customers away! We wanted a smooth creamy texture sweetened only with the natural nectar of bees. We wanted a hint of vanilla to accentuate the honey. We succeeded!

When you prepare this very special treat at home, I highly recommend using only pure and natural (raw) honey. It costs a little bit more but the taste difference is night-and-day. The reason we decided to add nutmeg (just a dash) to this dessert is that we wanted to add just a touch of zing (and the little specks are pretty).

This is actually a very easy dessert to make at home (the slideshow will take you through the steps) and the only special thing you'll need is an ice cream machine. You can find very good ice cream machines at stores such as Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $50.00 (at home I use a very simple Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine).

Unlike all the other cooking features and sites out there, you'll never find us opening cans or boxes. You'll never find us using processed crap. You'll never see us using fake pictures of the dishes off the Net. We'll give you step-by-step pictures because we actually cook this stuff. This is the way we do it in the West... REAL!

Ingredients needed to make Pure Honey Frozen Vanilla Custard (makes about 6 cups):

• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup pure unpasturized (raw) honey
• 2 Tbs. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 5 egg yolks

Steps:

1. Into a heavy duty medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together all the ingredients, except the egg yolks, and cook just until it begins to simmer.
2. In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks until smooth.
3. While whisking, add a cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks (this is called tempering the eggs, so they won't cook the minute you put then into the pot).
4. In a slow and steady stream (and while whisking) add the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan. Decrease the heat to low and stir until the mixture thickens to the point over coats the back of a wooden spoon (see picture in slideshow).
5. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any cooked portions of egg.
6. Cool the mixture to room temperature and then chill the mixture for 2 hours.
7. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn at least 20 minutes before serving (if you like your ice cream harder, freeze until ready to serve).

Chef's Note: When we serve this we add just a touch of finely grated pure chocolate with sea salt (as you see in the picture).

** Inside Google calls Chef Larry Edwards "quite possibly the most popular Chef in the world" and now you can find out what Chef Larry Edwards has coming up in the kitchen, on the road, in the restaurants and in the media by joining him on Facebook where the Chef's snarky personality and often controversial comments are always sure to cause a stir!