Jun 18, 2010

HONEY GELATO

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Mmm gelato. The ultimate holiday food. I dont know about you, but gelato is pretty much all I eat when I'm on holidays. It just makes me happy, and I feel adventurous wanting to try the gazillion flavours that are usually presented at a gelateria. Even the most humble gelateria I've come across has had at least 10 to 15 offerings. I'll usually have two flavours - in a cup please (sorry, cones are not for me!). Sometimes I'll have three flavours. And if calories weren't an issue and I could eat all I wanted without having to worry about not fitting into my jeans, then yes, I would had probably even gone for a cup containing six different scoops. With some whipped cream and sprinkles on top. That's how much I love gelato.

Anyway, strange that I had never tried making it at home. Plus, my ice cream machine even has a gelato function- it churns much slower then on ice cream mode. Slow churning means less air which explains the dense creamy texture gelato has.
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What I also loved about making gelato is that it is eggless. One day I will tell you why I prefer sweets that are eggless... it's a long story so I will save it for another time :)

The only issue at hand now was what flavour should I try? The answer seemed evident- I wanted to make honey gelato. I had once made homemade honey ice cream, and I still remember how fantastic the taste was. It was pure bliss, and nothing compared to commercial honey ice cream. There are some flavours that just taste so much more better at home- for instance pistachio is a good example in my opinion. Well the same applies for honey. Homemade versus commercially made is like night and day. You cannot even compare. Do you know what I mean? Not only the taste is different, but the colour too. Honey ice cream at home is white- not some light brown colour. You get that naturalness with pistachio too- none of that radioactive fluorescent green colour at home!

However at the last minute I threw in some bits of speculoos...although to be honest with you, this addition gave a bit of a wintery feel and darker colour to the end result. But it was good nonetheless!
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Wanna try some?
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Recipe for honey gelato:

300ml milk
300ml liquid cream
100gr honey
300ml cold milk + 1 tablespoon cornstarch

In a pot, heat 300ml milk with the cream and honey in a pot. In a cup, mix the cornstarch with 300ml of cold milk- make sure the cornstarch has dissolved completely, then add to the pot and keep mix over heat for two minutes. Remove from heat, chill in fridge for at least two hours before transfering to your ice cream machine. Follow manufacturer's instructions, and enjoy either immediately or place mixture in freezer for a couple of hours. You can optionally add chopped nuts or cookies of your choice for some crunch when transfering cooled mixture to your ice cream machine.

2 comments:

  1. That looks lovely. I like how you didn't use sugar but honey instead. Great recipe :D

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  2. I love your blog! The pictures are spectacular! One question, what is liquid cream? In the US, we have whipping cream, half & half, heavy cream and light cream. I'm not an expert like you so please guide me as to which cream to use. Thank you!

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Marianna