Honey Almond Fig-Swirl Ice Cream

It has been on my list since the summer, and this weekend I finally made my honey, fig, and almond ice cream. This is probably my most "gourmet" ice cream to date and has definitely taken the longest to make.


I started by honey roasting the almonds. I had a little more than a half a cup of organic slivered almonds, and placed them in a 350 degree oven until they turned slightly brown. While they were baking, I mixed together 1/2 Tbsp water, 1/2 Tbsp honey, and 1/2 Tbsp veggie oil. I brought there to a slight simmer and mixed in the almonds right after they came out of the oven. I then stirred the almonds for a few minutes until all the liquid was gone and laid them out to cool on a piece of foil.

I was mixed about how to include the figs. I couldn't find any fresh figs due to the season, so settled for organic dried figs. I was going to cut them up into little pieces and throw them in with the almonds but wasn't sure if the fig flavor would come out this way. I decided on making a fig-cinnamon jam that would then be swirled into the honey ice cream with almonds about half-way through freezing like I had done once while making white chocolate raspberry-swirl ice cream. This would not only help make sure there is plenty of amazing fig flavor in each scoop, it would also look pretty awesome! I cut about 15 dried figs into quarters and mixed them in a pot with 1 C water (much more water had to be added throughout cooking to fully rehydrate the fruit), a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3/4 cup sugar. This cooked over medium heat for a good while (45 minutes or so) until the figs completely broke down and made a nice jam consistency. To help break down the tough skins, I used a potato masher. The fig jam cooled in the fridge overnight.

Next came the ice cream! I used my standard recipe for the ice cream base but substituted honey for sugar and reduced the amount by about 1/8th of a cup since I didn't want the honey flavor to cover up the almond and fig.


Honey Ice Cream
2 C heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 C whole milk
2 egg yolks
5/8 C honey
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

I heated 1 1/2 C whole milk and 5/8 C honey over low hear, stirring until the honey dissolves. Then, I temper the egg yolks into the cream mixture by slowly adding about 1/2 C of the hot mixture into the eggs before pouring the whole thing back into the pot. Next, I stirred the mixture constantly until it reached about 175 degrees and was thick enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon. Once at this stage, I took the custard off the heat and let it cool down for about 1/2 an hour before adding the 2 C cream and vanilla. The custard went into the fridge witha piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming.

The next morning I anxiously put the honey custard into the ice cream maker. After about 10 minutes, the ice cream was almost done and I added the honey roasted almonds and let it church for about 30 seconds.

I was torn about how exactly to add the fig jam. I wanted it to kind of swirl through the ice cream and have heard of two methods of doing this. The first is to freeze the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours, then add the jam and swirl it with a knife. The second is to add the jam into the ice cream mixer the last few seconds and let it churn before freezing completely. I didn't want the jam to completely fall apart and blend completely in the ice cream since I wanted the honey ice cream flavor to still shine through. Even so, I added dollops of jam to the cream during the last few seconds of churning. The jam did spread out through the ice cream pretty consistently, but my worries were unfounded. I tried a little before putting it in the freezer and the flavor was out of this world! The honey, honey roasted almonds, and cinnamon-fig jam could each be tasted a little on their own but blend into a wonderful ice cream.



By far, this is one of my biggest ice cream successes to date! I guess the 4 or so hours of prep time payed off!