White Chocolate Chunk Lavender Ice Cream.
You know what this ice cream means.
I’ve been watching too much It’s Complicated again.
My favorite movie that speaks to my inner 55-year old self. It’s like that movie was made for me and my old lady soul.
If you don’t know, Meryl Streep makes lavender honey ice cream in that movie and brings all the boys to the yard. Or something like that.
A few years ago, I made croissants because I wanted to be a fly on the wall in Steve Martin and Meryl Streep’s bakery scene. Yeah, because it’s real life and all. I’ve wanted to make lavender ice cream for ages simply because of that movie, but something always stops me.
Laziness. And other things.
Like chocolate. And peanut butter. And truffles. And bourbon. And fluffernutters. And all the other decadent stuff that you can shove in ice cream.
I mean, lavender is so light. Like sooooo light. This is practically a health food. If you are on a diet, you can totally consume lavender ice cream because it’s… so light. I mean, it’s a flower.
Wait.
Which means… that it’s a PLANT. Which means, that it’s kind of a vegetable?
Oh man. You’re not getting out of this one. We are eating ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner now.
Don’t mind the white chocolate. Just ignore it. It’s certainly delicious and plays a significant role here. But I needed a touch of richness and while white chocolate (which is really faux chocolate, correct?) has never been my first choice, I believe there is a time and a place for it. Apparently for me, ice cream is it.
Oh and you don’t need to cover your ice cream in dried lavender, I just did so for trying-to-be-fancy photo purposes. This is a lavender infused ice cream with chocolate chunks – no flowers inside. You could even add a drop of purple food coloring if you want to walk on the wild side.
Then grab a ginormous spoon.
White Chocolate Chunk Lavender Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup dried culinary lavender
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Add cream, milk, sugar, lavender and salt to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves. Continue to heat until the mixture becomes warm and begins to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat, add in vanilla extract and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 60 minutes while the lavender seeps in. After an hour, strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve and discard the lavender. Add the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until cold, at least 30 to 60 minutes.
- Once it’s cold, add the mixture to your ice cream maker and churn according to directions. A few minutes before it’s finishing churning, add in the chopped white chocolate. Once it’s finished churning, scoop the ice cream into a freezer-safe container and cover. Freeze for at least 4 to 6 hours. Let sit for a few minutes before serving so the ice cream can soften.
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90 Comments on “White Chocolate Chunk Lavender Ice Cream.”
Man, I LITERALLY (like 5 seconds ago) threw some ice cream batter into my ice cream maker because I was craving ice cream (yes, it’s 7 am here. Judge)
I wish I would have waited so I could try this out. How-ev-er….Just gives me a reason to eat more. Yessssss.
This looks delish girl!
I love that movie It’s Complicated.. I want a shop like Meryl has! :) Love the recipe for the lavender ice cream, however not sure if I would like it, but I am curious to try it!! Your pictures are just so pretty!!
I am also in the middle of making ice cream right now, but it is for a recipe I’m developing for someone so luckily I don’t get the ‘I wish I had waited to see this post’!!! Because this ice cream looks simply divine and includes some of my absolute favourite things; I’m obsessed with putting lavender in sweet things. I may save this until Summer so I can use home grown lavender, but god I don’t think I can wait that long!
You’re really hitting it out of the park this year as far as simply incredible recipes go, by the way!!
It’s Complicated is my favorite movie. It’s like life porn…and house porn! I still can’t figure out what needs to be renovated about Meryl Streep’s house in that movie…it’s perfect! Anyway. This sounds amazing – I’m a bit intimidated by lavender. I’m always worried it will taste too florally…so toning it down with white chocolate definitely seems the way to go :) These pictures are beautiful, too. As always.
Total life porn!
I totally started making croque monsieur a few years back thanks to that movie.
I neeeeed this! I thought we were the only ones eating ice cream in the winter. It’s fattening, so it’s warming? That’s what we say. And we just ignored the CostCo guy who stared at us for the amount of ice cream in our cart. Why give us the big carts if we’re not supposed to fill them with ice cream??
xo
Oooh look at this fancy pants ice cream! I absolutely loved It’s Complicated too – in fact, it’s been a while and I just might queue that one up for the weekend. I found out that white chocolate isn’t really chocolate while eating at a restaurant with my family once… My mum is allergic to chocolate and most of the desserts on the menu contained it. The chef (a friend of our family) told us that white chocolate is technically considered confectionery, not chocolate, and doesn’t contain caffeine which is what my mum is allergic to. Strange that we still call it chocolate then, hey? Happy Friday!
I need to jump on the lavender train. I like it in my lotions but haven’t ventured to food yet. :)
I am melting in Australia; this ice cream is like a fresh breeze. i could eat ice cream in winter or summer but i have definitely been using it (too much) lately.
Such a sophisticated flavor but I am wooed but that white chocolate chunk.
It was in the 80s in San Diego yesterday and I was sweating at my desk editing pics.I would have loved a big bowl of this! The colors/photos are so delicate and just so perfectly fitting for lavender and white chocolate!
OH WOW!!!!
this looks so delicious!!
x
laura&nora
It is perfect. I always like to find new recipes where I can use lavender. Gosh, now I’m craving for this ice-cream :)
I can’t even think straight because all I want is this ice cream :) Beautiful!!! xoxo
Brilliant flavor combinations girl!
I love the idea of making lavender ice cream! And I too am obsessed with It’s Complicated – I’m planning a croissant making party with friends and will be watching the movie during it as well.
I LOVE THAT MOVIE! They actually had the Meryl’s set house for sale in Cali about a year after that movie. Total dream house…and that bakery! Oh Jesus! My kind of bakery. Plus, I kind of want to be one of her bff’s…she could invite me over for one of her four course dinners and we could drink wine and stuff our faces with one of her cakes. Yes, please!
I wish I could live in your brain where all these flavors are thought of. NO wait, I wish I could live in your house, then I could eat it all!
This is amazing!! So beautiful and sounds SO good!
I had a blackberry lavender ice cream once and looooved it, so I totally get this. There is definitely a tipping point on using too much lavender and tasting like you’re eating soap, but when done right [like this recipe, I’m sure!] it’s out-standing. I’ll eat ice cream no matter what the temp is.
But does it taste like lavender smells? C Mon, white chocolate ,dark ,milk it’s all delicious.
Yes I have the Trader Joe’s frozen croissants in the freezer ready to proof and bake for tomorrow morning. Chocolate and Almond. Yum!
Ahh! I’ve been sooooo hesitant to try lavender ice cream because I’m afraid it’ll taste like a bar of soap or something? My sister loves it in gelato but I’ve been too chicken.
Lavender is so so beautiful and tasty!! Looks like a heavenly little dessert… oh and I have been dying to make croissants from scratch..so yay for your recipe! I do not own a stand mixer, do you think it is impossible to make flakey delicious croissants?
OH AND!!! I think a scoop this ice cream over a scratch croissant would not be the worst thing in the world!
Totally clicked over just to tell you that I’m now going to watch It’s Compicated for the billionth time because of this ice cream title. OH, and whaddaya know, I have some lavender in my spice cabinet! Done and done!
Mmmmmmmmm.
I so hear you about the inordinate obsession with “It’s Complicated”. It is what I want to be my 55-year-old life to be, and I’m 23. Not at all weird.
BUT MERYL’S BAKERY. I just can not even get over it. It would be my dream life. I mildly hate myself, however, for knowing about the cost of pulling off both her bakery and her house (!!!) in California. A swift slap in the face.
WHY is it’s complicated the most watchable movie everrrr?! Like I die for her kitchen, for baldwin, for martin, for the hilarious pot smoking & cake eating merryl. and that catchy music?! I can’t you guys.
ps – I need to register for an ice cream maker STAT.
okay I’m done.
That looks absolutely amazing!
I’ve never seen It’s Complicated!!…gotta go do that. Like, yesterday.
I have never used lavender for cooking…this recipe may just be the kind of peer pressure I needed!
This ice cream looks delicious! I’m so glad you watched It’s Complicated again. Meryl Streep does cook some wonderful dishes in that movie, doesn’t she? This recipe is over the top…it looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
OMG the ice cream looks so elegant! I wanna try it real bad! The lavender and white chocolate matches so well apparently :)
http://andresthehomebaker.blogspot.hk/
I LOVE it’s Complicated and I want to consume every meal she ‘makes’ in that movie. And, every time you put ice cream on the blog I bemoan the fact that I don’t have an ice cream machine, Now you have me seriously considering an appliance purchase so I can make this ice cream. I’ll keep you posted on this struggle…
The second I saw this title I thought, “GASP! It’s Complicated!” Ever since seeing that movie I have wanted to eat lavender ice-cream. It just sounds so fancy and sophisticated. And thanks to you know I can make it myself.
Quick question, do you love your ice-cream maker? And if so, what kind? I’ve been wanting to buy one for a long time, and now I have the perfect excuse. Happy Friday Jessica : )
Those are the prettiest pictures! I wasn’t on board with the whole lavender-in-food thing until I tried a cupcake with lavender buttercream frosting. It was unreal. I will for-sure be making this ice cream!
I LOVE THAT MOVIE! And my inner self is a 12-year-old Japanese girl, so yeah, there’s that… ♥
I went to a lavender farm once and had the best blueberry lavender ice cream ever, I’ve always wanted to make some kind of lavender ice cream at home, and this looks like it will be the winner.
This reminds me of this ice cream place I would go to when I studied abroad. They had rose flavored ice cream, and while it sometimes vaguely felt like eating really fancy soap, it was always AMAZING. I imagine that this is similar.
I could watch It’s Complicated every single day and never get sick of it. I always want to eat croque monsieur and whatever the hell else that woman makes in that movie. My husband just doesn’t understand….
Oh my goodness that sounds incredible! Make sure you stop by my link party today, #OmNomNomFriday, and share some of your fantastic creations. Have a great weekend :)
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
This is a brilliant mid-January post— your ice cream looks like a mountain of delicious snow!
I LOVE it’s Complicated. And I must confess, I have wanted to master croissants ever since I saw it (which I have yet to do). Beautiful ice cream!
Prettiest ice cream ever!
holy crap.
Very happy to know that I’m not the only one who wishes I could fast-forward 20 years so that I can be Meryl in It’s Complicated. Every time I watch that movie I get excited about what my life could be like. Odd that I’m modelling it after a divorced lady? Yes. Maybe. HAHAHA. And that bakery. Don’t even get me started.
I think I may need to cave and buy an ice cream maker. It’s inevitable really. It’s pretty much the only appliance left for me to buy… I was saving it for a wedding registry but let’s be serious, that could take eons… ;)
Great post, and great photography!
Love “It’s Complicated” — and basically everything about Meryl Streep really :)
wowee how beautiful! now make me some pistachio please :)
Oh what a “fancy” ice cream! Sounds delightful!
You are my soul sister.
No kidding, I was just telling my boyfriend about that movie, and when he said he’d watch it with me, I died.
And I promised to make him the croissants!
Oh, I adore you.
This sounds AMAZING! Holy Moses. My mother-in-law believes in lavender everyyyyything so she’s going to flip over this recipe! (Plus, brownie point with the MIL isn’t too bad either! ;) )
I have been consuming ice cream on the daily recently…!
I must watch this movie because like you I am such an old lady…haha! The ice cream looks lovely!