Ice Cream: My Weakness
Hi, I’m Rebekah, and I’m a recovering sugar addict. Literally. And ice cream has long been my kryptonite (along with chocolate). But the way I enjoy ice cream now is either by going out with family occasionally to enjoy it, or by making it at home with ingredients I can control (and only making enough for 1-2 servings apiece!).
This Raw Honey Lemon Ice Cream uses raw dairy, raw honey, vanilla extract, egg yolks, and lemon zest. Let’s take a look at the benefits of making your own ice cream, as well as how each ingredient is valuable.
Why Make Your Own Ice Cream
At first glance, the average grocery store ice cream doesn’t contain shocking ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, flavor, sometimes a thickener. Yet on further investigation, I am of the opinion that pasteurized milk is damaged milk, sugar is a sweetener with a strong effect on the body, flavors may not be organic, and the thickeners can sometimes harm the gut lining. Does that mean you should never eat store bought ice cream? No, of course not. There is no diet perfection, and there’s a time and place for anything. But I prefer to make my own ice cream for the reasons listed above: 1. I can put in the best ingredients, and 2. I can make just the right of portion sizes so as not to go overboard.
Plus, making your own ice cream is fun and rewarding. It’s easy enough to go to the store and buy ice cream, even high quality ice cream. But imagine the anticipation of whisking your ingredients, chilling them, churning them into ice cream, and then getting the reward of enjoying it with friends and family. I just love it. We enjoyed this ice cream at the end of a hot day, outside on the deck.
Raw Honey Lemon Ice Cream Ingredients
Let’s take a closer look at each ingredient to see how they are good to our bodies.
Raw dairy is a living food filled with beneficial probiotics and healthy fats. When it comes from cows raised humanely and cleanly, there is little to no risk of contamination or pathogens. More information about raw milk can be found here. Many people, myself and daughter included, have trouble digesting pasteurized milk, but we can easily digest raw milk. Go to realmilk.com for information on where to find raw milk.
Raw honey is also beneficial in many ways. For allergy sufferers, consuming honey can help reduce allergy symptoms. Honey also has antioxidants, can help with weight management, and for me personally, helps me avoid a sugar crash. I love to use Really Raw Honey, a Baltimore-based company, for the best flavor. They are very careful about the quality of their product, to the point that they don’t ship it during the summer months to preserve the integrity of the honey (but you can still find it at grocery stores).
Egg yolks are a wonderful source of Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is thought to be the “X Factor” that Dr. Weston Price identified as a key nutrient to prevent poor dental health. Vitamin K2 also helps prevent cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
The final two ingredients, vanilla extract and lemon zest, play supporting roles by adding flavor and depth.
No Ice Cream Maker? No Problem.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t worry. You don’t have to skip over this recipe. Though I’ve never tried it myself, I’ve read that if you stir the ice cream mixture every 30 minutes for five hours, you end up with ice cream. If you give this method a try, let me know in the comments below what you think of it.
Thanks for reading my friends! See you next time.
Rebekah
Don’t Forget About These Other Treats
Raw Honey Lemon Ice Cream
Equipment
- Ice Cream Maker
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups raw whole milk
- 1 cup raw heavy cream
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- grated lemon zest from one lemon
Instructions
- In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, blender together raw honey and egg yolks for 5 minutes until fluffy.
- Add milk, cream, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Whisk until blended. Refrigerated for two hours until completely chilled.
- Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers directions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can achieve pretty good results by freezing the mixture and stirring every 30 minutes for 4-5 hours.
made this with my own honey from my beehive and I added just a sprinkle of pollen–the ice cream was SO delicious!!
I have never tried making my own ice cream but decided to give it a try after seeing your ice cream recipe. It was so easy to make and this honey lemon ice cream tasted amazing!!!
This was so much better than anything we could buy in the grocery store! It was delicious! Yum!
This was absolutely refreshing and delicious! We will make again. 🙂
I’m lucky that I can easily find raw milk and cream at a nearby farm and I love ice cream, so I got excited to try this recipe. It came out great and was so delicious! It didn’t last very long, but I’ll be making it again!