Thursday, July 2, 2009

Honeyed Fig and Pig Ice Cream

If you've been following our ice cream making adventures you might remember the Chocolate-Covered Bacon Gelato. In that post I mentioned I wanted to try a Fig & Pig Ice Cream. Well, here it is.
Honeyed Fig & Pig Ice Cream
(I need to learn how to get better pictures of ice cream.)

This ice cream was inspired by the dessert we had at the Broder's Pasta Bar Anniversary Lunch. We were served vanilla bean ice cream with slices of fresh fig & a crispy piece of bacon. I really loved this dessert and how all the flavors went together. After making the bacon gelato last week though I decided I wanted the ice cream base to have a little different flavor beyond vanilla. This is where the idea to do a honey ice cream came from. 

I think this version of bacon ice cream might have been a bigger success than the chocolate-covered. The honey ice cream was incredibly rich & creamy with a mellow sweetness that played well with the salty bacon. We used a good local honey with a nice strong flavor which you can really taste in the ice cream. The fig added another dimension of flavor as well as a some texture. We used dried figs because we can't really get fresh here (according to my produce guy they get too damaged in shipping from CA to sell) & I think the dried ones stand up better in ice cream.

Honeyed Fig and Pig Ice Cream
(Honey Ice Cream base adapted from the Ice Cream Bible)

4 egg yolks
1/2 c honey
1/2 c heavy cream
3/4 c half & half
1 T vanilla
3 bacon slices, chopped
8 - 9 dried Mission figs, finely chopped

Whisk the egg yolks & honey together in a large bowl until thick & light yellow. Set aside.

Bring the cream and half & half to a boil in a saucepan. Slowly whisk the into the egg & honey. Be careful to do this slowly so you don't scramble the eggs. Return back to saucepan & stir over low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (this took me about 25 minutes). Do not allow to boil. Strain into clean container & let cool to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla. Chill until completely cold or overnight.

Cook the chopped bacon until crisp. Remove to a paper towel & let drain. Place the bacon in the freezer for about 10 - 15 minutes.

Process the ice cream according to your machine's instructions. During the last 5 minutes of processing add the frozen bacon & the chopped figs.

Ice cream will be quite soft. Place in an airtight container & freeze until desired consistency is reached.

Makes about 1 quart

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© 2007-2009 Kathy Lewinski

16 comments:

  1. I need to get my ice cream bowl in the freezer!!

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  2. All of your ice cream posts make me really wish I had an ice cream maker! I love the name and it sounds great.

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  3. This combination makes a lot more sense to me than your last ice cream. I can see how the honey ties the figs and bacon together.

    You've inspired me to do another bacon ice cream myself this week. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I'll have a post about it up tonight.

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  4. This sounds like an awesome flavor combination! I really need to break out my ice cream maker.

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  5. Chocolate covered bacon was spot on last time but honey, figs and pigs is awesome! It's been a while since we've been to Broder's - what have we been missing!

    I'm co-hosting an 'ice cream social' round-up with ScottySnacks and Jennifer at Savor the Thyme; I hope you'll consider submitting any (or all) of your ice cream posts!

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  6. You guys rock with the ice cream flavors!

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  7. Oh my gosh, this looks and sounds amazing! I love the flavors you've combined here. Fig, honey, and bacon? Freaking genius!

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  8. This sounds wonderful! I love bacon in ice cream :)

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  9. I love the name! So clever! ;)

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  10. I love the addition of the honey. It sounds so great. As soon as I get back to my ice cream maker in November, this is going on my list to make. Such a creative flavor combo.

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  11. i always appreciate clever names, and you definitely came up with one here. besides that, it's a stellar ice cream to boot!

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  12. I agree: I think chocolate might be too strong for the bacon. . .Milky honey and figs: yummy!

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  13. I like to say it, "fig and pig".

    Wow to say it is better than something with chocolate in it. This must be incredible. I have to send this link to my brother who has a fig tree in his backyard. Lucky duck.

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  14. I love how bacon is being included in so many sweet dessert items in the food blogosphere recently! It's so creative.

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  15. I just made this, and it turned out so great. I used our homemade oatmeal stout and all cream...so rich and addictive. I'm already planning the next batch. Thanks for posting this. Love your blog...so glad I found it. :)

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