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    Home / Desserts / Ice Cream & Frozen Treats

    Lemon Balm and Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

    Published Apr 12, 2010

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    ice cream in a bowl on a tabl
    I had never really thought of putting herbs in baked goods. But one day several years ago, before I began pastry school, I was flipping through a San Francisco magazine on my lunch break and happened upon an interview with Nicole Krasinski, the former pastry chef of the former Rubicon.

    a leaf
    Apparently Ms. K enjoyed dipping into the savory kitchen for dessert inspirations (and even, I believe, confessed to not having a sweet tooth). She described concoctions made with such ingredients as black pepper, rosemary, basil, goat cheese, and even a dessert with salad greens.

    herbs in a bowl
    Reading this opened up my mind; there was whole other world of sweets waiting to be explored.

    close up of leaves in a bowl
    (I just found a different interview with the savory-dessert queen herself and I think we might be soul mates. This is how she responded to the question 'what does success mean to you:' I would love to be on a farm making goat cheese. I’m looking for a more holistic lifestyle. I’d like to own my own business – a restaurant on a farm with goats.
    !!!)

    bowl with ice cream mix
    Anyway, the next week, at Cook's Bouleverd, the best cooking supply shop EVER in Noe Valley that I just found out is CLOSING and am now completely traumatized (deep breaths, deep breaths...), I happened upon The Herbfarm Cookbook and immediately brought it up to the purchase counter, cash in hand. (I did my part - why, why?) For months this book acted as my bible as I made basil ice cream, apple-rosemary caramel crepes, thyme shortbread, bay leaf and pumpkin tart, and left a pleading note on a lemon verbena plant in the Potrero Community Garden asking the owner if he/she would kindly sell/trade some to me. I ordered lovage, anise hyssop and angelica seeds in the mail, and planted chocolate mint and marjoram in window boxes. I was a woman possessed. An herb monster. And a dessert snob. I would turn my nose up at herb-free sweets at restaurants, wondering why chefs would bother hiring such talentless, unimaginative saps as they obviously had manning the dessert arena.

    herbs in a blender
    One day, we went down to Jay's mom's house in the country, and I almost fainted when I realized that the border along the driveway was positively brimming with lemon balm. I asked if I might be permitted to pick some of the precious stuff, my mind swirling with ideas of how I might use it. In the panna cotta recipe I'd clipped from a magazine the previous week, perhaps, or maybe a sorbet, or...

    seive over a glass bowl
    'Oh that weed? Please, get rid of it!' came the response.

    close up of sieve
    Well, the years went by; the angelica and anise hyssop never even showed so much as a sprout; the lovage grew, then got horribly infected with aphids, along with everything else, and had to get the axe, despite the repeated and drastic anti-insect measures taken. Lemon verbena started popping up occasionally in our box and also at Rainbow, and I realized that people can be rather childish when it comes to dessert, particularly where I work, and that, generally, all they want is chocolate.

    handful of fresh strawberries
    But a bunch of lemon balm arrived in our box this week, rekindling the spark of excitement that comes with mixing fresh, grassy herbs with sugar and creamy things. I got out the old book, found the lemon verbena ice cream recipe, and tweaked it a bit to suit my purposes.

    sliced strawberries in a bowl
    What makes this recipe unique is that rather than steeping the green stuff in hot cream, which can alter the flavor of more delicate herbs, they get pulsed with sugar, stirred into cold dairy, strained and frozen into an ice cream, thereby keeping those fresh flavors intact, bright green flecks suspended in a cold, tangy treat. Crème fraîche and a squeeze of lime juice punch up the flavors, and the mixture takes just minutes to put together.

    ice cream with a sprig of mint on top
    Cowgirl Creamery makes a delicious, local, organic crème fraîche, but you can save some dollars by making your own. Just stir 1 tablespoon buttermilk into 1 cup heavy cream. Let it sit in a warmish place (I put mine on top of the fridge) for about 24 hours, stirring once or twice so that the fat doesn't congeal on the top. When it is evenly thickened to the consistency of runny yogurt, give it a final stir, and store in the fridge. It will keep for one to two weeks. Use it anywhere you would sour cream, like drizzling into soups, on scones, or over a fruit tart or pie.

    strawberries and ice cream in a bowl

    For more ice cream recipes:

    • Goat Cheese Honey Ice Cream
    • Bourbon Apple Crisp Ice Cream
    • Roasted Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream with Bourbon and Chocolate
    • Boozy Banana Butterscotch Ice Cream

    *Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this lemon balm and creme fraiche ice cream recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*

    ice cream in a bowl
    4.50 from 2 votes

    Lemon Balm and Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    A fresh and tangy ice cream! 
    Alanna Taylor-Tobin
    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Chilling time: 2 hours
    Total: 20 minutes
    Servings: 6 servings (makes about 3 cups).

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 cup gently packed lemon balm leaves, rinsed and dried, plus a few leaves reserved for garnish
    • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
    • pinch of salt
    • 1 cup creme fraîche
    • 1 cup half and half
    • juice of half a lime (about 1 tablespoon)
    • fresh berries, for serving (optional)

    Instructions

    • Pulse the lemon balm and sugar together in a food processor until finely ground. Pulse in the salt, crème fraiche, half and half and lime juice until combined. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, then freeze in an ice cream maker. 'Cure' the ice cream in the freezer until firm, two hours or so, then serve with fresh strawberries, if desired.
    • This ice cream is best eaten a day or two after being made, but will keep in the freezer for a month or so. I mean, it's ice cream, after all.

    Notes

    Adapted from The Herbfarm Cookbook.
    Nutritional values are based on one of six servings.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 159kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 1gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 47mgPotassium: 106mgSugar: 9gVitamin A: 380IUVitamin C: 1.5mgCalcium: 85mgIron: 0.1mg
    Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

    Lemon Balm and Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

    Adapted from The Herbfarm Cookbook

    Makes about 3 cups, or 6 servings

    1/2 cup gently packed lemon balm leaves, rinsed and dried, plus a few leaves reserved for garnish
    1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
    pinch of salt
    1 cup creme fraîche
    1 cup half and half
    juice of half a lime (about 1 tablespoon)
    fresh berries, for serving (optional)

    Pulse the lemon balm and sugar together in a food processor until finely ground. Pulse in the salt, crème fraiche, half and half and lime juice until combined. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, then freeze in an ice cream maker. 'Cure' the ice cream in the freezer until firm, two hours or so, then serve with fresh strawberries, if desired.

    This ice cream is best eaten a day or two after being made, but will keep in the freezer for a month or so. I mean, it's ice cream, after all.

    bowl of ice cream

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    the cover of the award-winning cookbook, Alternative Baker

    Hungry for more?

    Alternative Baker celebrates the unique tastes and textures of 14 gluten-free flours, from buckwheat flour to almond flour to sorghum and coconut! This cookbook will fill your kitchen with sweet treats that burst with flavor every month of the year.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Helen says

      June 27, 2020 at 12:30 am

      What is half and half?

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        June 28, 2020 at 8:23 pm

        Here in the US, half and half is similar to light cream. It's actually about 1/4 heavy cream and 3/4 whole milk in terms of fat content. You can swap those in in the recipe if you don't have access to half and half. :)

        Reply
    2. Sarah says

      July 20, 2020 at 4:40 pm

      This had a lovely flavor but too rich for my taste - it was a bit like eating butter. I might try again with milk instead of half and half, or less cream. Appreciate learning the creme fraiche buttermilk tip tho!

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        July 23, 2020 at 8:44 am

        Thanks so much for the feedback, I'll add a note to the recipe!

        Reply

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