Burnt Honey Pistachio Ice Cream

Modified Polar Ice Creamery recipe. Original recipe had significantly more honey. I modified it to include corn syrup and dextrose for reduced sweetness and to improve the scoopability. Additionally, I caramelized the honey to add more complexity to the flavor and to reduce the cloying sweetness of the original.

1. Make a mixture of sugars, milk powder, salt and set aside.
2. Add milk and pistachios into blender/vitamix and blend well.
3. Combine milk/pistachio mixture with cream and sugars/milk powder mixture and heat in a pan.
4. In another pan, add honey and corn syrup and heat over low to medium low. Continue the caramelization until your desired color. The darker, caramelized honey will be less sweet and more complex in flavor. Be careful around 280 deg F or it will burn quickly (fructose has a different caramelization temp than sucrose).

Honey Temperature Stages

• Warming & Drizzling (90°F – 110°F / 32°C – 43°C): Honey loosens and pours easily.
• Nutty / Caramel Notes (230°F – 285°F / 110°C – 140°C): Honey darkens and develops a sharp, caramel-like flavor.
• Scorch Risk (285°F – 320°F / 140°C – 160°C): Bitter edges and burning start to take over.
• Searing & Frying (350°F+ / 177°C+): Honey burns almost immediately.

5. At the desired caramelization level, add the hot milk mixture to the caramelized honey/corn syrup and whisk well. Chill in ice bath until ~104 deg F. Add guar gum and stick blend to homogenize pistachio base. Chill in ice bath and mature the base in the fridge 8-24 hours.

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Another method:

1. Add milk, cream, sugar, dextrose, milk powder, corn syrup, and salt to a pot to heat up on medium/medium low heat.
2. Add shelled, roasted, salted pistachios to a food processer and blend well. It will take several rounds to reach a semi paste-like consistency. Add the hot milk mixture and continue blending to create a smooth pistachio paste/butter. Whisk it into the pot with the rest of the hot milk mixture.
3. Start caramelizing the honey/corn syrup do your desired level. Add the warmed milk/cream/pistachio mixture while whisking. Continue heating up to 80C and turn off heat.
4. Cool in ice bath, add guar gum at the appropriate temperature, and stick blend.
5. Mature the base in fridge 8-24 hours.
6. Stick blend well before churning

I used a Cuisinart ICE-21 to churn the ice cream.