*This Salted Honey Chamomile Frozen Yogurt is refined sugar free with a dairy free option.
Come springtime, most people dream of cherry trees bursting with blossoms, buttery daffodils popping up on every corner, moderate temperatures, rain showers, and forthcoming summer vacations.
I dream about ice cream.
Every fall and winter I take a pretty solid break from my ice cream maker, but come spring I pull it out of it’s dark corner in the laundry room’s bottom storage cabinet and give it back it’s spot on the kitchen counter. I’m convinced that of all the food-related appliances I own, the ice cream maker has earned it’s place as my most prized inanimate object (alongside my Vitamix, of course) and has paid for itself 4 times over.
Then, I start dreaming up flavor combos.
If you make homemade ice cream often, you know that not only does it taste infinitely better than store-bought but that when it comes to flavor options, they are endless.
Take this Salted Honey Chamomile Ice Cream with Bee Pollen. Ain’t no store-bought ice cream got flavor like that. And if you’re a fan of store-bought ice cream, I mean no disrespect. But you still won’t be able to find salted honey chamomile anywhere on those frozen shelves. 😉
This ice cream combines two different bases: coconut milk and Greek yogurt. If you are wanting a completely dairy free ice cream, use a coconut yogurt instead of the Greek. Also, make sure your coconut milk is full-fat. Since there isn’t cream in this ice cream, you need to keep the fat content up. You’ll notice that the recipe has you add tapioca or arrowroot starch to the coconut milk before heating it and steeping the chamomile flowers. This will help thicken and stabilize the mixture, acting somewhat the same as egg yolks in a custard-based ice cream. If you don’t have arrowroot or tapioca starch, cornstarch can be substituted.
Any type of honey is going to make this ice cream taste great (raw honey is best!), but I have to tell you that I used a mint honey that I haven’t loved (it is too strong for most things), but in this is was incredible. My favorite tea combination is spearmint and chamomile, so the mint in the honey was somewhat reminiscent of that and it all melded together so beautifully. Salt, Honey, chamomile, Mint, Coconut Milk, Yogurt. ALL of it.
The bee pollen on top of the ice cream gives it such a nice texture and color. I only added a little bit to the top as more of a garnish, but if you really like bee pollen you could layer it through the ice cream when you spoon it into a container before freezing. I find it a little too bitter to take in large doses, so I only used a little.
You can find bee pollen at natural grocery stores and online. Apparently it contains a myriad of health benefits, so google it if you’re curious. I bought it because it’s pretty. I’ll admit it. Sometimes I’m completely shallow when it comes to food. Having it turn out to be great for you was a lucky break.
Oh, and on the vodka. It is not a completely necessary ingredient but I always add it to my ice cream. Since alcohol doesn’t freeze, it helps the ice cream from freezing too hard, or developing an icy texture. There are a few teaspoons of vanilla extract in the ice cream already, so I only added a teaspoon of vodka. If you didn’t have any alcohol, you’d be fine to just use the vanilla, as it also contains alcohol. The extra teaspoon of vodka won’t be missed too much.
MORE ICE CREAM:
Passionfruit Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Ice Cream
Blackberry Lavender Chevre Ice Cream
Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream
- 1 tablespoon Tapioca or Arrowroot Starch
- 1½ cans (about 2¼ cups) Coconut Milk (full-fat)
- 2 tablespoons Dried Chamomile Flowers
- 3 cups Plain Greek-style Yogurt (use coconut yogurt to keep it dairy free)
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 teaspoon Vodka (optional - keeps it from being icy)
- ½ cup honey + 1-2 tablespoons (plus more for drizzling)
- ¾ teaspoon Sea Salt
- Juice of ½ a Lemon
- 1-2 teaspoons Bee Pollen
- Place the tapioca starch in a saucepan and whisk in ¼ cup of the coconut milk until mixture is smooth. Add the remaining coconut milk and bring just to a boil, whisking occasionally. Remove from the heat. Stir in the chamomile flowers and cover pan with a lid. Let steep for 10 minutes.
- When done steeping, strain the mixture into a large bowl, pressing on flowers to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard flowers. Add the yogurt, vanilla, vodka, honey(start with ½ cup and add more to taste), salt, and lemon juice to the chamomile-infused coconut milk and stir until smooth.
- Refrigerate overnight or until very cold.
- Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.
- When frozen, scoop into a chilled container, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with bee pollen. Freeze for several hours, until solid.
- Let sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes before scooping.
