Imagine a sweet floral ice cream with bits of honeycomb crunching throughout. In this honeycomb ice cream, the smooth chamomile flavor punches through the sweet honeyed candy to have a shining moment while the honeycomb bits adds a dose of crunch to keep things dramatic.
Combine the sugar, water, honey, corn syrup, and salt in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring just to combine.
Bring it to a boil over medium high heat and cook, without stirring, until it reads 296°F on a candy thermometer.
Remove the saucepan from heat and quickly but carefully stir in the baking soda (the sugar will bubble up rapidly).
Pour the bubbling sugar onto the lined baking sheet and let set completely while you make the ice cream, about an hour.
When it's completely cool, break honeycomb into pieces no larger than ½-inch. The honeycomb will keep in a plastic bag for a few days.
Chamomile Honeycomb Ice Cream
Whisk 3 tablespoons of milk with the tapioca starch in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk cream cheese and salt until smooth and creamy.
In a medium saucepan, combine remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, honey, and lemon zest and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Let it boil for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in dried chamomile. Cover and let steep for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice cubes and water.
Strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve lined with a cheese cloth, squeezing all the liquid through. Return the strained milk to the saucepan.
Give the corn starch slurry one last whisk to make sure it's completely incorporated. Slowly whisk the corn starch slurry into the hot milk saucepan and bring it back to a boil over medium-high heat.
Cook, stirring, until it thickens until it lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 1-2 minutes.
Slowly pour a cup of the hot milk into the cream cheese bowl and mix until smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the saucepan and whisk until completely smooth.
Pour the ice cream base into a large 1-gallon Ziploc bag. Seal it and submerge the mixture in the ice bath until cold, about 30 minutes.
Pour the ice cream base into the bowl of your pre-frozen ice cream maker. Follow the directions on your ice cream maker to churn the base into ice cream, until it is the consistency of soft-serve, about 15-20 minutes.
Add the honeycomb pieces and churn just until evenly incorporated throughout, 1 more minute.
Pack the ice cream into an air-tight storage container or a metal loaf pan, pressing a sheet of parchment paper directly against the ice cream.
Freeze until firm and the honeycomb has softened, at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.
Notes
Honeycomb adapted from Lollipop Love, ice cream base adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.
This nutritional information has been automatically calculated, and as such, may be incomplete or inaccurate. Please reference the specific ingredients you use for the most accurate nutritional information.