Thyme Ice-cream with Honey and Mascarpone

Thyme Ice-cream with Honey and Mascarpone

My Thyme Ice-cream, flavoured with honey and mascarpone, is rich and sweet.  Although many of the ingredients that I use are local to where I now live in south-west England – fresh thyme from my garden, honey from the man down the road who keeps bees – the flavours take me back to many happy summers in Italy.

I think my Thyme Ice-cream makes an excellent dessert after a summer meal – cooling and  creamy  but with a herby twist!  The taste of thyme is quite subtle in this recipe and is balanced by the other flavours, so this a good introduction to herb ice-cream for those who may be a little unsure about it.   If I am serving this at a dinner party,  I will usually serve it paired with another ice-cream with a less unusual flavour and let people choose which one they want!

I love herb-flavoured ice-creams.  I think the cream or custard base provides the perfect vehicle for many herbs and allows their flavours to sing out.  Herbs are the stars of the show and not just a supporting act!    Many herbs, which may be considered mainly of use in savoury dishes, make excellent ice-cream.   In addition to thyme, I think basil, bay, sorrel all make excellent ice-creams.  There are also, of course, other herbs such as lavender and lemon verbena, which are used in many sweet dishes and make fantastic flavourings for ice-cream.

Easy Thyme Ice Cream with Honey and Mascarpone

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Thyme Ice Cream with Honey and Mascarpone

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 15
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: for 6 people 1x
  • Category: Ice-cream
  • Cuisine: English

Description

Try a sweet twist on thyme with this creamy Thyme Ice Cream with Honey and Mascarpone.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 200 ml (7 fl oz) double cream
  • A large bunch of fresh thyme
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) honey
  • 250 g (9 oz) mascarpone

Instructions

  1. Wash your thyme and crush it gently using the back of a spoon to release its flavour.  There is no need to remove the leaves from the woody stalks.
  2. Put the thyme into a saucepan with the cream.  At this stage, if you have time (as well as thyme..) you can leave the mixture overnight to allow the flavour to infuse.
  3. Next, heat the cream and thyme mixture gently. Do not allow to boil – it will be the right temperature when you are just about able to bear to dip a finger in it!
  4. Strain the cream through a sieve to remove the thyme.
  5. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until the mixture looks paler and resembles a mousse.
  6. Pour the thyme-flavoured cream into the bowl containing the egg yolks.
  7. Transfer the combined mixture into a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or, ideally a double-boiler, as you need to reheat it very gently.
  8. The mixture will gradually thicken until it looks like a custard (which is what it is).  Stir regularly to make sure it does not stick while it is thickening.
  9. Add the honey to the custard.
  10. Remove the thick custard from the heat and transfer into a bowl.  Allow to cool to room temperature and then transfer to the fridge to become thoroughly chilled.
  11. Add the mascarpone to the chilled custard.
  12. When you are ready to make the ice-cream, transfer to your ice-cream maker and use according to your machine’s instructions.  If you do not have an ice-cream maker, you can place the mixture in a freezer-proof container, put in the freezer for several hours until half-frozen.  Whisk the mixture and then return to the container and replace in the freezer until totally frozen.

Notes

There are many varieties of thyme and any are fine in this ice-cream.  I used lemon thyme as I particularly love its flavour.

Keywords: thyme, ice-cream, honey, mascarpone

Other thyme recipes

Thyme is one of my favourite herbs. I like to make Thyme Biscuits with Pinenuts which are fantastic with my Thyme Ice Cream but are also great on their own. I also make a simple Thyme Loaf Cake which allows the flavour of this lovely herb to take centre stage. Thyme is also a really good flavouring in savoury recipes such as Shallot Tart with Thyme.

Other home-made ice cream recipes

I am a great home-made ice cream enthusiast. I make it in the summer, of course, but am happy to eat it in winter too! There are some brilliant, shop-bought ice creams available but it is so easy to make your own. I like to experiment with flavours and some of my other ice cream recipes are listed below.

Thyme Biscuits with Pinenuts

Thyme Biscuits (Thyme Cookies)

Thyme Biscuits (Cookies) with Pinenuts

These quick and easy sweet Thyme Biscuits (Cookies) are crumbly, buttery and sweet with a fantastic fresh herby flavour. The thyme provides a gentle but complex flavour which really makes these biscuits special. They are topped with golden roasted pinenuts which provide added crunch.

If you are a bit wary of using thyme in a sweet recipe, I would really encourage you to try making these biscuits. I firmly believe that one of the joys of home-cooking is to experiment with different flavours, and combinations of flavours. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that all my recipes are very easy and simple which allows a focus on but the common thread is , and to have the freedom to discover new flavours and to use familiar ingredients in new ways.

This recipe is very loosely inspired by the Italian pinolate biscuits, which are often lemon flavoured and contain ground pinenuts in addition to a topping of whole ones.    When I was putting together a recipe for thyme-flavoured biscuits, I thought that a topping of pinenuts would make them look attractive and go well with the herby flavour.  The pinenuts become golden and toasted while the biscuits are cooking in the oven and this makes them crunchy and also enhances their flavour.

Thyme Biscuits (Thyme Cookies)

Other sweet herby recipes

If you like this recipe, I have a number of other recipes that use herbs in sweet dishes. I have two simple loaf cake recipes, for Thyme Cake and Rosemary Cake, which highlight how brilliant these herbs are as flavourings for cakes. I also have a great recipe for Thyme Ice Cream with Honey and Mascarpone which goes pretty well with these Thyme Biscuits!

Thyme Biscuits (Thyme Cookies)
In praise of thyme

Thyme is one of my favourite herbs. It is extremely versatile and I use it in both sweet and savoury dishes. The fresh  thyme that you buy in the supermarket will generally be common thyme which does make a good flavouring for these biscuits.  However, I used lemon thyme when making these biscuits, as I grow it in my garden and particularly like its lemony-herby flavour.    If you have space for a few pots and want to grow your own thyme, there are many different types, a number of which have distinctive citrus notes such as lemon, orange or lime.   Herbal Haven has a very large variety of thyme and other herbs which can be bought online.

In addition to my sweet recipes for Thyme Cake and Thyme Ice Cream with Honey and Mascarpone, I also use thyme a lot in savoury dishes. It is a great partner for onions and shallots, such as Shallot Tart with Thyme and Anchovies, and is also brilliant with chicken as in my Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Thyme.

Thyme Biscuits (Thyme Cookies)

Biscuits and cookie recipes are a great place to start if you are new to home-baking.  They are quick and easy to make and taste so much better than shop-bought varieties.   You can have home-baked treats on the table in under an hour.

Shortbread is one of the easiest baking recipes. I have a number of shortbread recipes including Almond Shortbread with Rosewater, Shortbread with White Chocolate and Raspberries and Lavender Shortbread. I also have a very simple recipe for crisp and buttery Lemon Biscuits (Cookies). My recipe for Ginger Biscuits (Cookies) is oaty and mildly spiced. If you are looking for something savoury, I have an extremely moreish recipe for Cheese Biscuits (Cookies).

Recipe for Thyme Biscuits (Cookies) with Pinenuts

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Thyme Biscuits (Cookies) with Pinenuts

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 15
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 30 biscuits 1x
  • Category: Biscuits
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: English

Description

These biscuits (cookies) are flavoured with fresh thyme and topped with crunchy, toasted pinenuts.  They are great eaten on their own or as an accompaniment to ice-cream.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 150 g  (6 oz) plain flour
  • 100 g (4 oz) butter 
  • 50 g (2 oz) caster sugar
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or half a tablespoon of dried thyme
  • 50 g (2 oz) pinenuts

Instructions

  1. Set the oven to 170 C/325 F/Gas Mark 3
  2. Put the flour and butter into a bowl and rub together using your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Alternatively, process in a food processor. 
  3. Add the sugar and the chopped fresh thyme.
  4. Squeeze the mixture together with your hands until it forms a soft dough.
  5. Roll the dough out to approximately 1 cm thickness.
  6. Cut into circles or other shapes if you wish.
  7. Place the circles on a baking tray lined with baking parchment or grease-proof paper.
  8. Press pinenuts into the top of each circle of dough.
  9. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.

Keywords: biscuits, thyme, pinenuts

This recipe has been shared on #CookBlogShare with Recipes Made Easy and #FiestaFriday with Fiesta Friday 

Thyme Cake

Thyme Cake – a brilliant twist on a plain loaf cake

This Thyme Cake is a basic lemon loaf cake to which is added the wonderful flavour of fresh thyme. As the name of my blog probably suggests, I love using herbs and spices in my cooking. They are a fantastic way of making your dishes unusual and memorable without having to use any particularly advanced culinary skills. You simply just add them into your dishes.

Fresh herbs are used widely in savoury dishes but I love to experiment with them in sweet dishes, such as cakes, biscuits and desserts. The recipe for this Thyme Cake was inspired by the success of another herb-infused cake, my Rosemary Cake.

I love thyme, it is one of my favourite herbs and I use it widely in savoury dishes such as Roast Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Thyme and Dauphinoise Potatoes. I have also already used it in sweet dishes such as Thyme Biscuits with Pinenuts and in Thyme Ice Cream with Honey and Mascarpone. It seemed a natural progression to try it in a cake.

This Thyme Cake, like my other loaf cake recipes, is very quick and easy. It is a basic lemon loaf cake, topped with drizzle, but the flavour is transformed by the addition of fresh thyme. The taste of lemon and thyme makes me think about Mediterranean holidays and sunshine!

If you like this cake, you may like some of the other loaf cake recipes that I cook regularly. They are so quick and easy to make and you can get really creative with the flavours! On other pages of this blog you can find recipes for Rosemary Cake, Earl Grey and Orange Cake,Lemon DrizzleBlood OrangeLime and CoconutRum and Banana and Ginger and Pear.

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
Thyme Cake with Lemon

Thyme Cake

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 45
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 1 loaf cake 1x
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: English

Description

This easy loaf cake highlights the wonderful herby fragrance of fresh thyme.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 125 g butter
  • 75 g caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 175 g self-raising flour
  • 4 tablespoons of milk
  • 1 lemon
  • Approximately ten sprigs of fresh thyme (each about 5 cm long) plus a few additional sprigs to decorate, if required.
  • 100 g icing sugar

 


Instructions

  1. Set your oven to 180 degrees centigrade or Gas Mark 4.
  2. Grease a 450 g loaf tin and line the bottom with baking parchment or use a paper loaf tin liner.
  3. Cream the butter with the sugar.  (I usually soften the butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave first as it makes it much easier!)
  4. Gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture.  If it looks as if it is going to curdle, add some of the self-raising flour. 
  5. Once the eggs have been incorporated add the rest of the self-raising flour.
  6. Add the milk and the grated zest of your lemon.
  7. Remove the leaves from your sprigs of thyme and chop finely.  Put half of the chopped leaves (about 2 teaspoons) into the cake mixture.  The other half should be reserved for use in the drizzle.
  8. Spoon the cake mixture into your prepared loaf tin.
  9. Put the tin in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
  10. While the cake is baking, put the juice from your lemon in a small bowl  and add the reserved half of the chopped thyme leaves.   Heat in the microwave for 1 minute. The idea is to heat the juice so that the thyme releases its fragrance.  (If you don’t have a microwave, you can heat the juice in a saucepan over a low heat on the stove.)    Allow the juice containing the chopped thyme leaves to cool slightly.  Then combine it with 100 g of icing sugar to form a thick syrup.
  11. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately pour the syrup over the top.
  12. Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely before removing.   If you try and take it out while it is still warm it may fall apart as it will be very moist due to the syrup.
  13. You can decorate the cake with a few further sprigs of thyme.

Keywords: thyme, loaf cake, thyme cake, culinary herbs

Loved this recipe? You may also like the following recipes. Or checkout the Recipe Index.