This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.
This Lavender Rose Ice Cream is so delicate, light, and ethereal. The floral tones melt in your mouth in perfect unity.
With this recipe, my transition into Official Old Lady is complete.
The truth is, I’ve had old lady tendencies my whole life. One of my favorite hobbies is talking scornfully about kids these days, and I’ve been yelling at (proverbial) punks to get off my (proverbial) lawn for at least the last decade. I’m basically one Matlock episode shy of a nursing home. However, nothing says “little old lady” like a fondness for food that tastes like lotion smells.
I used to be staunchly anti-floral anything. But gradually—I don’t know when this shift occurred—I changed my mind. I think it started when I made a batch of raspberry-rose truffles. “These aren’t so bad,” I thought. “In fact…they’re quite good. They’re delicious.” In retrospect, those truffles were obviously trouble, and I should have known raspberry was a gateway food.
Pretty soon I was infusing lavender into chocolate pies and adding rose whipped cream to pistachio tarts with wild abandon. With this recipe, though, I’ve given up all pretense of the floral flavor being a supporting player and put it front and center, with not one but TWO flowers lending this smooth ice cream their light, spring-y flavor.
Your enjoyment of this ice cream will depend on whether you have Old Person Tastebuds like me, but if you do—watch out! I couldn’t stop eating this. It’s so delicate, so light, so ethereal, it’s easy to chow down and demolish a bowl without realizing it. (Don’t worry—it’s nothing a little mall walking in my most stylish sweat suit can’t fix.)
This ice cream is perfect plain, or you could serve it with buttery shortbread cookies, berry desserts, or perhaps some kind of pistachio or almond cake. Maybe scoop yourself a big bowl while watching a Murder, She Wrote marathon? Just a thought.
More Floral Desserts🌸
- Watercolor Rose Sugar Cookies
- Lavender Lemon Bars
- Rosemary Raspberry Truffles
- Lavender Hot Chocolate
- Pear Pistachio Tart with Rosemary Crust
Lavender Simple Syrup
Raspberry-Rose Cake
Lavender Rose Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp culinary dried lavender, for culinary use
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 5 large egg yolks
- pinch salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp rose water, or more to taste
- Purple food coloring, optional
- Candy thermometer, optional
Instructions
- Combine the cream, milk, and lavender in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the cream to a simmer, then remove the pan from the heat and cover it with a lid. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, to infuse the cream with lavender flavor.
- After 30 minutes, add the sugar and salt to the bowl of cream and whisk them together, then put the cream back on medium heat. Put the egg yolks in a medium bowl nearby and whisk them gently. Bring the milk/cream mixture to a simmer, then when it just starts to come to a boil, remove the pan from the heat. Whisk the egg yolks while you slowly pour in about a third of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs heat up but don’t cook during the process.
- Now return the saucepan to the heat and start whisking the cream while you pour in the hot egg mixture. Continue to whisk as the custard cooks, and cook it until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. If you want to use a candy thermometer, you’re shooting for 175 F (80C).
- Take the pan from the heat and strain the ice cream custard through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, to strain out the lavender and any bits of cooked egg. Whisk in the rose water, and a drop or two of purple food coloring, if desired. (Depending on the shade of your coloring, you might want to add a drop or two of pink as well, to give it more of a lavender-rose shade.) Continue to whisk occasionally as it cools.
- Once at room temperature, press a layer of cling wrap on top of the custard and refrigerate it until it’s completely chilled. (To speed up the process, you can place the bowl over an ice bath and whisk it as it cools down.)
- Once the custard is fully chilled, churn the ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Recipe Notes
MEASURING TIPS
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Click here to learn more about baking measurements and conversion.Nutrition
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. For more information, see my Affiliate and Advertising Policy.
Ummm… can I just say I LOVE IT!!!
Thanks so much, Johlene! I loved it a little too much, if you know what I mean…
I always joke that I’m secretly 83 years old… And the joke is that I’m totally serious. Old ladies = the coolest, though, no?
That ice cream looks so soft and delectable and lovely. I’m totally into it!
Okay, let’s break it down. Sweat pants? Check. Early bedtimes? Check. Getting to say whatever the heck you want because no one is going to be rude and contradict you? Check. Yes, it’s official–old ladies totally have it made! Can’t wait to be 83!
This looks so creamy and delish, I love the color too! Pinning c:
Awesome, thanks Consuelo! I did have to give it a little help with food coloring, but I think it was worth it for the color to convey exactly how the dish tastes.
Oh my gosh. This makes me laugh. When I saw the title, before i even read any of your post, i flashed back to a dinner I had with my girlfriends and the waiter brought us a rosewater flan. I felt like I was sipping the holy water out of my Grandma’s living room font. Oh, snicker, snicker. Old lady tastebuds. Yes yes, I agree. Perhaps if I don some white gloves and a girdle and start snipping hot dog weiners with kitchen scissors this ice cream will become my dessert of choice, ehhh?
Haha, cackling at snipping hot dogs with kitchen scissors! We are SO ready to be little old ladies. And I’m not going to lie, rosewater flan sounds delicious… what is wrong with me?!
I too have old lady tendencies and absolutely LOVE the sound of this recipe. Must must must try!
‘Cause being an old lady is the best! Glad you’re with me on the lavender-rose love. 🙂
I must be an old lady too because I go gaga for all lavender desserts too! Can’t wait to try this out with my new ice cream maker. Did you get your rose water just at the regular grocery store?
I did! But the grocery store I shop at has a large selection of middle eastern foods, so maybe that’s not typical. They carry multiple brands, and it’s usually around $3/bottle–not a bad deal! I hope you’re able to find some and give it a try!
If these ice cream flavor makes you an old lady, then I am a million years old because that is how much I love it.
Hey, nothing wrong with that! Let’s be little old ladies together.
Wow! Looks so scrumptious!
Thanks so much, Yelena!
Wow is the word.I found this through fridgg and I am thankful.Such a tempting ice cream.I will be coming here for more dessert ideas 🙂
yummy…. just love those, cool one tempting
Wow, not everyone is in the “know” on rose water……I see no explanation here of what it is, not even a hyperlink…so should I just grab a handful of rose petals from my “seven sisters” variety of rose bush and steep them in hot water???? Do miniature roses taste better? because I have those too…
And the food coloring in this recipe is just unnecessary fluff, it actually detracts from the presentation rather than enhance.
Aging is a privledge that is suppose to bring wisdom from life experienced. Experience has taught me that sugary treats should be taken sparingly, this preserves their status as delightful treats. Consuming copious amounts of sugar, late in life, is the equivalent of begging for health problems. There is a difference between being a sad little old lady or a wise-woman powerfully living out her crone phase. While the anecdotal introduction to this recipe is amusing, it paints a picture of the “proverbial” old woman that I will never be, not even at age of 83!
Hi Tonya, you’re right, I should have explained what rose water is. It’s a culinary ingredient made from roses that has a lovely light rose flavor. (Wikipedia says it’s “the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals.” I don’t know what that means.) There are probably ways of making it yourself, but I’ve never done it. I buy mine at my local grocery store, in the Middle Eastern food aisle. It’s also available on Amazon and I’m sure other websites as well:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&field-keywords=rose%20water&sprefix=rose+wa%2Cgrocery&rh=i%3Agrocery%2Ck%3Arose%20water
The food coloring is definitely optional but we’ll have to agree to disagree–I personally like the lavender color as a signifier of the ice cream’s flavor. Different strokes!
Oh, and please do not mistake my earlier comment as disrespect. I see and applaud that you are an accomplished and published pastry chef. However this declaration of yours that pops up on every page of this website; ” I eat ridiculous amounts of sugar on a regular basis & I’m not sorry about it.” replete with an invitation to “join you”, along with your stereotypical idea of what constitutes an old woman, perpetuates over-indulgence in an already over-indulgent society and seems to imply that over-consumption of sweet treats is some kind of reward for getting old.
Congratulations on the gift of a beautiful and healthy child as children are indeed spiritual gifts of the highest order. Hopefully when you’ve raised that perfect being up to the age of 24, you will by then have a clue to what being an “old lady” really is…
I love ice cream but never head about this flavor. The only flavor I know how to made is vanilla because it simple and easy to do. Maybe I will try it someday.hmm lavender sound good. Anyway thanks for sharing the recipe.
Where can I find edible lavender?
Hi Madeline,
I found mine at Cost Plus World Market, but many large grocery stores carry it, and I believe Whole Foods usually has it too. It’s in the spices section, usually in a jar or bottle like all the other spices.
Thank you so much Elizabeth!
I may have turned Old Lady years ago – this is right up my alley! srupmtious and delightful, thank you for sharing 🙂
I love lavender and rose scents, but edible lavenders and roses?! Count me in 🙂
–I will definitely try these out, but first thing’s first, MUST.BUY.ICE CREAM MAKER!
http://www.mycurvesandlashes.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks Shanna! I have to say, I’m not one to advocate buying a million kitchen gadgets, but I always recommend an ice cream maker–it’s the gift that keeps on giving! Let me know what you think if you give it a try! 🙂
yaaaaammmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyy, i just love to eat ice cream and this rose ice cream make me crazy! aha but Thanks for Great Article 🙂
Thanks Bilal! It’s definitely one of my family’s favorites. Let me know what you think if you give it a try!
Thank you so much Elizabeth!
OMG. I inherited a full set of English china from my grandmother. The pattern is called Lavender Rose. Now I’ve got to make this & serve it in the china. 🙂
Uh, YES, it must be done! It’s a sign that ice cream is in your future!!
Can I just say how fantastic this ice cream sounds? Lavender and rose just sounds like perfection!
Thanks Miranda! I never get tired of lavender desserts. 🙂
Is this recipe in one of your books?
Hi, my book is focused on candy recipes, so no, this one isn’t in the book. 🙂
Hi Elizabeth, I have a procedural question for you… Should the sugar and salt be whisked into the CREAM or into the EGG YOLKS?
I expected the sugar/salt to be whisked with the egg yolks until pale and slightly thickened, but to my surprise, paragraph 2 says to “add the sugar and salt to the bowl of cream and whisk”. There was never an instruction to put the cream in a bowl, though, and the next instruction is to reheat the cream. By that point all I could think was, “Reheat a bowl? What?”
So am I badly misreading paragraph 2, or is there actually something out of place?? Help! =)
Mmmmmmm! Speaking as an actual official-pension-collecting old lady, I am so making this ice cream – my favourite food group and the ingredients are all available in my tiny pantry. I’ve not yet employed my food grade lavender or still sealed rose water. Thanks for this!
This was the best thing I have ever eaten it was like heaven in my mouth
I made this yesterday. It is incredibly smooth! I would’ve liked a more delicate flavor but that is just a matter of reducing the lavender. I left out the food coloring.
I am an old lady & l love the lavender & rose & tge basil ice cream!
Love this with the rose water, but experimenting with lemon as the second flavor. Fresh lemon juice and zest. Loving this with a slice of fresh butter cake with a lemon lavender glaze drizzle.
Yumm that sounds amazing. I’ll have to give that a try myself.
Hi, I was wondering if you could please tell me what culinary lavender you bought? Will gladly use your affiliate link just really need one that’s going to come out this beautifully purple!
This ice cream looks sooo delish and can’t wait to try it. My family absolutely loves lavender ice cream ever since we had one at a farm few years back. I had a question, I have a lavender plant growing in my backyard but I don’t know if it’s a flowering type, don’t see any flowers so far. It has tons of leaves though. Small and some look stubby. Do you think I can use those leaves in any way in this recipe?
Without egg we can prepare this ice cream. So If yes can you share me the recipe
Hello there! The egg yolks are an important ingredient in this recipe, so I wouldn’t leave them out! However, I will be coming out with an egg-free homemade ice cream that could be adapted in the next month! Stay tuned 🙂