This ice cream is absolutely delicious. To start, honey makes ice cream incredibly smooth and creamy. To interrupt the smooth, we add sponge toffee — such fun to make! As the candy dissolves, it adds pockets of a toffee-like syrup, along with lovely crunchy bits that get stuck in the teeth in lingering ways.

Ingredients

• Heavy Cream 2 cups (473 ml)
• Whole Milk 1 cup (236 ml)
• Pure Local Honey 1/2 cup (118 ml)
• Fine Sea Salt 1/4 tsp
• Egg Yolks 5 large (90 g)
•  Sponge Toffee 3/4 cup (60 g) (recipe below)

Make It

1. Prepare an ice bath.
2. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine cream, milk, honey and salt. Stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until steam begins to rise from the surface. Remove from heat.
3. While the dairy is warming, whisk the egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. To temper the yolks, slowly pour 1 cup of the heated cream mixture into the yolks while whisking vigorously. Continue adding heated cream and whisking until about half of the hot cream has been added. Transfer the yolk mixture to the pan.
4. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring continuously with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula or a digital thermometer reads 180°F (about 5–6 minutes). Immediately remove from heat and strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into the inner bowl of the prepared ice bath.
5. Cool the custard in the ice bath until room temperature, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
6. Place storage container in the freezer to chill. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions until ice cream is thick and creamy and has increased in volume by about a third.
7. Once churned, add in sponge toffee and churn for a further 30 seconds until incorporated.
8. Freshly churned ice cream can be enjoyed right away or, for a firmer scoop, stored in a chilled airtight container in the freezer for a further 2 hours. For optimal flavour and texture, homemade ice cream is best consumed within 2 weeks of being made.

Sponge Toffee

• Sugar 1 cup (200 g)
• Light Corn Syrup 1/4 cup (59 ml)
• Water 3 Tbs (45 ml)
• Baking Soda 2 1/4 tsp (break up any obvious clumps)
• Flaky Sea Salt for garnish

1. Line a 9 × 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving a generous overhang.
2. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup and water and mix until the sugar is hydrated. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan. Make sure the tip of the thermometer is fully submerged but does not touch the bottom of the pan, to ensure an accurate reading. Place measured baking soda next to the stove. Keep an oven mitt (to protect your mixing hand from hot steam) and whisk nearby.
3. Bring syrup to a boil over high heat. Boil, resisting the urge to stir, for about 4 minutes, or until a candy thermometer reads 300°F and the sugar has started to caramelize, turning a golden colour. Gently swirl the pot if some spots are browning faster than others.
4. When the sugar is at temperature, put on the oven mitt and whisk in baking soda. The candy will erupt into a spongy hot web. Working swiftly, pour candy into the prepared pan. (It will harden quickly.) Do not spread out candy or shake the pan—you want to keep in as much air as possible. When still warm, sprinkle flaky salt on top, then set aside to cool completely.
5. Remove sponge toffee from the pan using the parchment overhang. Using your hands or a blunt kitchen utensil (like the handle of a whisk), break toffee into chunks no larger than a quarter. The candy will shatter into many different sizes—and you will want it all! Using both the candy dust and the larger pieces will give the ice cream a nice textural component.
6. Sponge toffee can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Excerpted from Great Scoops: Recipes from a Neighborhood Ice Cream Shop by Marlene Haley and Amelia Ryan of The Merry Dairy with Anne DesBrisay. Photographs by Christian Lalonde. Copyright © 2022 by The Merry Dairy. Excerpted with permission from Figure 1 Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.