Honey’d Fig & Goat Cheese Ice Cream

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(Honey’d Fig and Goat Cheese Ice Cream – recipe in post)

Honey and I, we go way back. One of my favorite treats as a child was a warm mug of milk and honey, usually enjoyed just before bed time. Who am I kidding, it’s still one of my favorite things! For a sip of nostalgia, I need look no further than a glass of milk and honey. Those very same flavors shine bright and clear in this dessert – sweet honey combined with melt-in-your-mouth ice cream… on a hot day, it doesn’t get much better than this.

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If you’re skeptical about goat cheese, fear not. The flavors here are incredibly light. I love the mild tanginess that goat cheese can lend to a dessert, but often times I find it overpowering – I was careful to keep it mild, just enough to add a dimension to the taste of this ice cream. If you aren’t used to using goat cheese, or even if you aren’t a fan, I strongly recommend trying this. It’s subtle, and it’s sublime.

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In combination with figs, goat cheese finds its niche. This was my first recipe in using my honey’d fig preserves, and the combination of flavors is a delight – better than I even expected. If you don’t want to make your own preserves, store-bought fig jam would work well in its place.

Honey’d Fig & Goat Cheese Ice Cream

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
1/2 cup (170g) honey, plus more for drizzling
3 oz. soft goat cheese*
1/2 cup honey’d fig preserves (click for recipe, or use store-bought fig jam)

*The flavor from the cheese is very mild – perfect for my taste – if you prefer it a little stronger, feel free to add another 1 oz.

Method
In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, and honey. Heat until steaming, but not boiling, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, and add the goat cheese, stirring and pressing any lumps against the side of the pan until well incorporated. Chill in the fridge for a few hours until completely cold, or overnight.
Churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. In the last 30 seconds of churning, add the fig preserves. Alternatively, stir the preserves into the finished ice cream by hand for a more swirled consistency.
Transfer to a chill safe container and store in the freezer until firm.
Serve as is, or with a drizzle of honey.

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Perfect on its own, or try it in combination with my Orange & Cardamom Spiced Honey’d Fig Olive Oil Tea Cake (click for recipe).

 

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30 Responses to Honey’d Fig & Goat Cheese Ice Cream

  1. Foodie Stuntman July 18, 2012 at 5:57 pm #

    I need to get an ice cream machine!

    • Anonymous September 28, 2013 at 10:46 pm #

      I made this in my kitchen Aid metal mixing bowl mixing,placing and removing from freezer every few hours. Came out wonderful!

  2. Elly McCausland July 19, 2012 at 9:45 am #

    I don’t normally use the word ‘luscious’, but that’s the best way to describe this I think! Gorgeous photos, and the ice cream sounds simply divine.

  3. Jen @JuanitasCocina July 19, 2012 at 2:38 pm #

    Damn.

    I have no other words.

  4. The Sister July 19, 2012 at 6:27 pm #

    Ugh! Torture!! I’m so hungry… I love figs… and honey… and ice cream…

  5. Riley July 19, 2012 at 9:55 pm #

    This looks unbelievable! Wow!

  6. Grub Snapper July 19, 2012 at 11:15 pm #

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    • Willow July 19, 2012 at 11:22 pm #

      Thanks for the invite!

  7. Sarah July 20, 2012 at 6:54 am #

    Wow – these are some of my favorite flavors! Oh man, this is persuading me to buy and ice cream maker…

  8. lindsaygreen July 20, 2012 at 2:06 pm #

    Glad I stumbled upon this blog!

    • Willow July 20, 2012 at 3:53 pm #

      Glad to have you here!

  9. glutenfreehappytummy.com July 20, 2012 at 2:58 pm #

    wow that first photo needs to be on the cover of gourmet magazine!

  10. Kristin @ The Chocolate Box July 20, 2012 at 5:27 pm #

    This sounds so interesting and it looks delicious! I love goat cheese, but never used it in an ice cream, will have to try it sometime.

    I’ve featured a link to this recipe in my “Friday Favourites”, here: http://www.thechocolatebox.se/2012/07/fredagsfavoriter.html I hope you don’t mind! The blog is in Swedish, but there is a translate button on the left of the page if you scroll down :)

  11. Pennie July 20, 2012 at 7:29 pm #

    Wow–this is so up my alley!! What a creative and wonderful recipe and your pics are beautiful–will def have to haul out the ice cream machine for this one!

  12. shannon @ a periodic table July 20, 2012 at 9:41 pm #

    willow, i am in love – serious love – with this ice cream. I’m obsessed with figs right now, and when i eat them, i eat them drizzled in a bit of honey. Also, i love goat cheese, so this is perfect for me right now. I am totally making this.

    • Willow July 22, 2012 at 11:08 pm #

      Haha, nice! I’m sure you’ll love it.

  13. Kat July 20, 2012 at 10:36 pm #

    I love goat cheese combined with sweet things. I think this ice cream with honeyed fig preserves would make a fantastic combination of flavors. You should be a recipe developer for a gourmet ice cream company!

    • Willow July 22, 2012 at 11:09 pm #

      That would pretty much be my dream job. Assuming I could eat a lot of ice cream, of course. “No, I’m not sure this flavor is ready yet… I need to ‘test’ it more ;)

  14. CJ - Food Stories July 21, 2012 at 12:53 am #

    This looks very light & refreshing … great job!

  15. shannon @ a periodic table July 23, 2012 at 8:00 pm #

    willow, here’s what: i have this ice cream mixture chilling in my fridge right now, and i’ll be putting it in my ice cream maker shortly. i’m extremely excited about this. my one issue today when i went to the store? NO FIGS! like, none…and i just finished a box last night. So i used the recipe for your fig preserves, only replaced the figs with a combination of fresh apricots and sugar plums…i thought those would work well with the honey and goat cheese ice cream. cross your fingers, and i’ll let you know how it goes!
    ps: i know how the preserves went…delish!

    • Willow July 24, 2012 at 12:01 am #

      Sounds wonderful! I think stone fruit would be the perfect replacement for figs – can’t wait to hear what you think!

  16. Courtney J July 25, 2012 at 2:42 pm #

    Stunning Willow! :) MUST try this!

  17. Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes July 26, 2012 at 9:03 pm #

    I LOVEE the olive wood cutting board where did you find that grogeous piece?

    And you should totally pen yourself up an ice cream truck, you’d make bank!

  18. Cindi O July 31, 2012 at 12:17 am #

    I literally just made homemade Goat Cheese last night and have been making the same old vanilla bean ice cream. I was just about to cook up a batch, so I can throw it in the ice cream maker tomorrow when I stumbled upon this. Now I have a batch in the fridge, ready to roll tomorrow, I will let you know how it turns out, looks lovely!

  19. Moe November 21, 2012 at 7:42 am #

    I was really excited to try this recipe but my mixture totally curdled shortly after I started incorporating the goat cheese. Any tips? I’d like to make this recipe for Thanksgiving this year, glad I still have a day or so to experiment.

    My gut is to lower the temperature of the milk before incorporating the cheese. Thoughts?

    • Willow November 21, 2012 at 2:12 pm #

      This surprises me – I haven’t heard of goat cheese curdling a milk mixture before. When I added my goat cheese the cheese itself was lumpy at first, but I worked those out easily with the back of a spoon.

      Looking at other goat cheese ice cream recipes, some of them call for putting the goat cheese in a separate bowl, then pouring the warm milk over the cheese slowly, while mixing.

      I wish I knew more – hope that helps!

  20. Annette August 31, 2014 at 6:21 pm #

    I love making this recipe, but your link to your honey’d fig preserves is no longer working. I should have copied that recipe down as it was the best that I found on the Internet. Please, make the link work again. Thanks for your awesome blog!

    • Willow August 31, 2014 at 9:35 pm #

      Thanks for pointing this out! My site went through some changes recently, and some of the older links broke. I updated this post so the links should work now. Please let me know if you’re still having trouble. And I’m so glad you like this recipe and keep coming back to it! Fig preserves are one of my favorites. :)

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