Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

This is a creamy, smooth, rich and not too sweet custard-style vanilla ice cream with a delicate, but perfect hint of honey and brown sugar (I have to disagree with those who compared this to Butter Pecan ice cream--this is an entirely different flavor, the only similarity being the brown sugar used in both.) This is an unusual and creative twist on vanilla ice cream that really works. Great recipe!

I thought this recipe was excellent. I made just a few changes, which was to cut back on the cream by one cup and replace it with whole milk (cut back on some of the fat.) Just before adding everything to the ice cream maker I whipped it with an electric mixer to "fluff" it up. I also cut back on the sugar by a little more than 1/4 cup but increased the honey by 2-3 tablespoons (I love honey.) The result was a very creamy - and honey tasting - ice cream. Topped with some granola it made a great treat. I will make this one again and again.

Loved this recipe! A few families got together and had our version of "Iron Chef" this past Memorial Day. Ice cream was determined to the what the contest would be based on. I saw this recipe and decided that I would use it because I decided that the less complex the recipe the better. Needless to say, I won the contest by the votes of multitudes of people at the celebration. I doubled the recipe to fit my ice cream maker. It had a very rich vanilla flavor and the combination of honey and brown sugar added a deeper dimension of sweetness to it. Almost caramel-like. It had a really smooth creamy texture that was unlike any of the other contestants. It was almost fluffy. Thank you for the recipe. I will be using it again.

I have tried many ice cream recipes with no luck, but this one is AWESOME!!!! I made it for a dinner party this past weekend and it got RAVE reviews!! They were all lovin' the flavor the honey added and it was so thick and creamy. To top it all off, this recipe is just the righ amount to fit into my Cuisinart ice cream maker so it was perfect! I will make again and again.

Great taste and consistancy but way too sweet! Would reduce the brown sugar by half next time.

This is a fantastic recipe! I'd never made ice cream before and recently bought a KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer. This recipe looked better than the one in the KitchenAid booklet so I decided to try it. It turned out very rich, sweet and buttery tasting and reminded me somewhat of butter pecan flavor. I didn't have a thermometer to measure the temperature while cooking and wasn't sure how "thick" the egg/milk mixture was supposed to get. I cooked the mixture about 10-15 minutes and it became quite frothy on the top so I thought it must be done at that point. It wasn't what I would call "thick" but it did seem like the texture was slightly different than when it started. I tried another Honey Vanilla recipe since making this one and it didn't have sugar but a lot more honey (3/4 cup). It didn't turn out as tasty as this recipe so I imagine this one is hard to beat! The only downside is how fattening it is....which I wouldn't worry about when making for a party/other guests but for just us at home will have to make lower fat gelato & sorbet recipes so we don't balloon up!

I wanted something different from the traditional vanilla ice cream and this fit the bill perfectly! I wasn't sure what to expect. But what I got, was an ice cream turned out so creamy and delicious, with a subtle honey taste while you indulge but the honey taste really kicks in afterwards. What a wonderful way to enjoy each bite of your ice cream! I knew this ice cream would turn out creamy when it said to strain the custard. This technique is usually used in a gelato recipe that I absolutely love! Always turns out smooth and extra creamy! I used vanilla extract since I didn't have vanilla beans on hand and there was a very small "bite" of "too much sweetness" in the ice cream, but nothing too noticeable. I think reducing the sugar just a smidgen would work fine. Otherwise, if you want an alternative to plain vanilla...This Is It!

Delicious! Perfect on its own, but I added toasted coconut and broken pecan granola bars...excellent. Thanks!

Oh, my freakin' WORD!!! This will have to be kept under lock and key to keep me from making myself sick gobbling it all up before the holiday. I made it today to have for serving on top of Thanksgiving pies, and it's so unbelievably delicious that it's a major temptation. The marriage of honey and vanilla is sheer genius! The honey is just barely discernible, but it complements the vanilla flavor to perfection. I didn't have any whole milk, so I substituted fat-free half and half. No matter. The texture is wonderful, the flavor sublime. It melts in a silken ribbon on the tongue, leaving a delightful taste on the palate that makes you crave another spoonful. I cut back on the brown sugar by 25% after reading several reviews that noted excessive sweetness. After tasting the solution, it was just a bit short of sweetness, so I simply added about 2 Tb Splenda to make it just right. Awesome!

I followed the recipe to a T and this is phenomenal ice cream! Wow! It is so unique in flavor and would be amazing paired with applie pie or crisp. GREAT RECIPE! Actually now that I think about it I accidently scraped the bean in step 1...that was my own fault, but didn't hurt the ice cream any.

This is the first ice cream I've ever made and we liked it! We really didn't taste any honey at all in it and I hoped we would. It was a really good vanilla ice cream though, tasted just like Haagen Daaz vanilla bean ice cream. I made it exactly as per the recipe. It was easy enough but more time consuming than I thought, but like I said it was my first time making ice cream so I don't know if it was any more time consuming than other recipes.

I made this ice cream a couple of weeks ago and it has a very nice flavor AND texture! It's not super hard when you take it out of the freezer like some other recipes I've tried from this site. I used half and half instead of milk because I had some on hand from all the holiday cooking. It was a kinda sweet, but I like sweet. I usually top my vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, but that may have put me into a sugar coma, so I opted for sliced banana and it was great. Nice recipe and even though I don't like "making" ice creams where you have to temper the eggs, I will definitely make this again. I also added about 2 tsp vanilla extract in addition to the vanilla bean after tasting the batter it didn't seem to be enough flavor - plus I like the extra vanilla flavoring. UPDATE: I said I made this a couple of weeks ago, I still have some left and it's still fabulous! Someone recently asked how long homemade ice cream would keep, this one has kept very well for a little over 3 weeks and counting.

Absolutely wonderful. I've been attempting ice cream all summer and this turned out to be the best one yet.

Fabulous! I can't say enough about how good this is--incredible creamy and rich. Most homemade ice cream is incredibly hard to scoop after you put it in your freezer, but this is comparable in density to commercially available ice creams.

I MADE THIS WITH LAVENDER HONEY AND I MUST SAY....ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! MY IN LAWS WENT NUTS OVER THIS! THE CRUNCHY PECAN COCONUT GRANOLA I USED WAS A CRUNCH THAT OFFSET IT PERFECTLY.

This was delicious. Best consistency of homemade ice cream I have ever made. Flavor was also excellent. Will double the batch next time.

This was some delicious ice cream!!! Great flavor and we loved it ;)

This has to be one of the best ice cream recipes I've tried. I tried a taste before refrigerating it and I thought it was a tad too sweet. I whisked in some more salt (probably one heaping teaspoon of course Kosher salt total) and it went from delicious to divine. If you're like me and enjoy a little saltiness to your dessert, try to add a little extra salt to taste. Reminds me of salted caramel. Yum!

This ice cream was the BOMB! The flavor was awesome i had to make myself stop eating. I will be using this recipe again.

The only reason I gave this four and not five stars was because I found that even after reducing the sugar to 3/4 of a cup, it was still too sweet - 1/2 cup should be plenty for next time. I used 3 cups of 1% milk and one cup of half and half (10% mf) and it was still lovely and rich. I used high-quality local honey - fallflowers from Arila Apiary in New Westminster, BC. It was a fantastic way to showcase the flavour of the honey, but it you are wanting a clean vanilla taste I would either leave it out or use the most mild honey you can find. Overall this is a fantastic base recipe that is easily tweaked for personal tastes. I am going to enjoy a cone right now!

I thought I already had the best recipe for vanilla ice cream, but I was wrong. This recipe is the very best, ever. I liked the deeper flavor notes of honey and brown sugar. It was a perfect complement to an excellent pecan pie.

YUMMY! This is REALLY an ice-cream recipe. Nice and creamy, didn't get rock hard in the freezer. Used lactose free whole milk. Turned out perfect.

amazing! need to cut back on the sugar a little tho.

This recipe is way, way, too sweet. Cloying.

I didn't have any vanilla bean so I used a 2 teas of vanilla. . .. this is the best ice cream I've ever made.

I served this at a dinner party with a delicious apple crisp and everyone raved! I also didn't have a candy thermometer and my suggestion is to stir continuously and watch carefully. I had to make the base twice, because the first time I stepped away and it boiled over and burned. But I salvaged my vanilla bean and the second batch turned out to be creamy and delicious. Another suggestion, the colder EVERYTHING(base, containers, ice,etc.)is when making the ice cream the creamier it will be.

Vanilla beans are the way to go even if there are pricey.

I think instead of 2 cups milk I will use 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of the new Honey Vanilla Crème creamer from coffee-mate!! I am a proud coffee-mate brew-crew member!

Wow, was this good! My first time ever making homemade ice cream, and everybody loved it! I will definitely be making this one again!

Turned out a little too eggy tasting for me. Great texture, just didn't enjoy the flavor as much as I thought I would and no one else liked it

I didn't even see this ice cream--bf made it then ate it all before I could say a word. He said he didn't like it that much--didn't like the brown sugar or the taste of the yolks. He did, however, really like the vanilla flavor. I'm a bit bemused that he says he didn't like it much yet ate it all in two days, but what do I know . . . .anyway, sounds like it could be tweaked to his tastes by eliminating the brown sugar and decreasing the yolks, but next time I'll have to be faster to even try a bite. Thanks for the recipe!

This was wonderful! What rich, creamy, delicious ice cream. I'll definitely be making this over and over again.

I would rate this ten starts if I could. The flavor and consistency were perfect!

i won an ice cream making competition with this recipe. very sweet, but delicious!

The flavor is great! Mine didn't really freeze well either as Melissa noted. It did solidify in the freezer and was not icy and hard.

The ice cream came out tasting heavily of honey, but it was delicious! However, the recipe would never freeze properly in the ice cream maker, so once I put it in my freezer, it turned rock hard and icy. I don't recommend putting all of the hot milk into the egg mixture. I tried this twice and ended up with a foamy mess. Next time, I will only put in half of the milk, as most other recipes call for. I will definitely try this out again, as my friends all loved it, but I hope it freezes better in the future.

This is really really good! Definately has more of a carmel taste with the honey and brown sugar. Absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exact, except used 5 egg yolks since thats all I had and I also subbed 1 cup of half and half for some of the whipping cream. Definatly will be making this one again. Thanks~

Great ice cream. My hubby liked that it stayed on the soft side even after being in the freezer for 2 days! Smooth and creamy, a real treat :)

This ice cream is fabulous. Rich, creamy and delicious. But I think, this is more honey and brown sugar than vanilla taste ice cream (maybe because I used 1/2 vanilla bean). But overall this ice cream is very delicious, one of the most delicious I have eaten. You won`t be disapointed.

I was hestitant to make this but it turned out amazing. Perfect blend of sweet and creamy.

Made this - followed the instructions exactly. I don't have an ice cream maker so after 4 hours I just bunged it into the freezer. Came out perfectly, so much so I now have to make some for 2 neighbours!

It had a delicious butterscotchy taste but was very very very sweet. It had a great texture.

delicious! goes wonderfully with apple pie or chocolate cake.

This ice cream is so good !

I made this recipe last night for my family and they all loved it but I had to make one sub. I did not have any honey in my house so I used Coffee-mates Honey Vanilla Cream creamer and it tasted really great with that in there.

Wanted to serve this tonight, I didn’t have enough time to chill the custard in the fridge for four hours, so I decided to use an ice bath. I placed the smaller custard bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice, and whisked regularly for about 25-30 minutes until the temp reached about 38 degrees F, then into the Cuisinart ice cream maker. We love Rainier cherries (sorry they’re available for such a short time), and I decided to add some to the custard. The tan color is not great for eye appeal, so next time, I think I’ll split the sugar into half white and half brown; maybe it’l be a little more white like you expect from vanilla ice cream. Thoroughly enjoyed, a real treat!

The brown sugar flavor was a bit much, overwhelmed the vanilla part. Reminded me more of butter pecan flavor. Very creamy (added some half and half) and good, just not what I was expecting.

Wow! This really was good. I think it would be really good with sunflower seeds mixed in it. I used walnuts and it was fabulous! I made my boyfriend Rocky road as he is not a big vanilla fan and he wanted to eat all mine..

Honey and vanilla makes an excellent combination for an ice cream. Great choice love this one.

Great recipe! Very sweet. I was just curious - what do you save the vanilla stick for?

This is probably the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had. The flavor is so pure because of the vanilla bean, and the honey and brown sugar flavors are not at all overpowering. Instead, they add a very distinctive note to the ice cream that is just absolutely delicious. The only changes I made for the recipe was to decrease the amount of brown sugar to 3/4 cup and I heated the milk and cream together instead of adding in the cream at the end. This will be my go-to vanilla ice cream recipe!

This ice cream was okay. Too sweet for our tastes. Would probably skip the honey if we were to make it again.

really good. loved it

Delicious! I used 1.5 tablespoons pure vanilla extract in place of the vanilla bean and hslf and half in place of whole milk... after tasting the final product decided it'd be even more delicious with toasted pecans. This is my new favorite vanilla ice cream recipe! Thank you so much for sharing.

I realllllyyy like this one. I have made this recipe many times. It makes a good amount for my family and I also use this as a base for a lot of different varieties. The most recent version that I made, was to follow the recipe exactly as stated but omitting the honey. I processed in my ice cream maker and at the very end, I added in about 1 C of crushed oreos. Very good!

Absolutely the BEST ice cream recipe I’ve had in a long time. It was a little strange looking ( foamy) before it was frozen but came out perfect. I poured the cooked mixture into a shallow pan and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes to cool instead of the fridge for 4 hours. Worked fine.

The texture was very nice. It was easy to make. The only issue I have is that the brown sugar brought too much sweetness to the plate. Not sure if I'd add less or if I'd just switch to white sugar (or do all honey?). BTW, I quadrupled the vanilla beans. You can never have too much vanilla. :)

When i bought my ice cream maker, this was the first recipe i went searching for, with dreams of the discontinued since the 80's Haagen Daz flavor of Honey vanilla that was my childhood fav. Next time i make it, however, I will use only 1/2-3/4cup brown sugar. I have a super-sweet tooth, and this was even too sweet for even me. I like milder vanillas, and i wanted the honey flavor to "pop" more.

Very tasty. It's a must to put it in the freezer for a while after it's made, though. It tastes better when it's firmer.

This is great, I use Erythritol and make it sugar free and nobody can tell the difference. I use Vanilla extract and sometimes add a little fruit. Of all the recipes I have tired to substitute as sugar free this one seems to work the best.

Delish and very rich! Would make a great base for adding candied pecans too.

This is the best home made ice cream I've ever had! Tastes like butter pecan ice cream without the pecans. Will be the recipe I will go to when I need to make ice cream again.

Awesome. Will definitely make again.

This was so smooth it turned out amazing thank you so much!!! LOVED it!

This was the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had. I used a darker natural honey and it came out with a light almost caramel flavour with the vanilla. Everyone raved about it. I will use this recipe again for sure!

We liked this ice cream. We made it with pure vanilla instead of the bean. I think some lemon zest would be amazing too.

We have been making this recipe every summer for the last few years. The honey rounds out the sweetness of the vanilla ice cream. It's awesome served with a berry sauce, on top of peach Melba, but our favorite way to eat it is between two malted chocolate chip cookies!

I used creamy fat free milk and half the sugar and it was fantastic! Really doesn't need so much sugar...

We have made this twice already and loved it! The first time we didn't have brown sugar so we used white, it was good but a little too sweet. The next time we used brown and about 3/4 of a cup and it was absolutely delicious! I still think that I will the amount of sugar called for next time!

You can really taste the vanilla and honey. I love the real vanilla beans in it. Very easy to make .

Thank you, M. McCarthy! I've tried numerous vanilla ice cream recipes, and this is the best one yet by far: Creamy, smooth, silky and rich, with a bit of a complex flavor. Your description says it best: Buttery. I could not imagine trying to make it 'healthier' or lower-calorie by substituting anything for the cream, and I also use whole milk. This is so rich, we only eat about 1/4 to 1/3 cup at a time, sometimes with fresh blueberries. I thank you, and so do my boyfriend, family and friends.

We make cinnamon ice cream for the 4th of July and I was looking for a good base recipe. I added 3 tsp of ceylon cinnamon and it was delicious! My family did not find this too sweet, but that may be a difference in different regional honeys (ie. clover, orange blossom, mesquite).

Love the hint of honey.

Made this for a dinner party in my Kitchen Aid mixer ice cream freezer. It did't freeze very well. Moved it to a container to continue freezing and was not ready for the dinner party, needed to freeze almost over night. Hubby like it and the neighbors, but I thought it was a little too sweet and creamy, but then again, I'm not a big ice cream fan. May try again with less honey.

Oh my! This ice cream is fab-u-lous! I didn't change a thing. My husband and I thought that it had more of a caramel flavor than vanilla. I'm sure that's due to the brown sugar. And really, I don't care! I love this recipe!!! I didn't find it to be too eggy at all, but I also prefer a custard-based ice creams. Next time I make this I'm going to double or triple it.

My family and I devoured this. It was wonderful. Not too sweet , I used dark brown sugar so color was more Carmel, but taste was spot-on. Will make again

I really loved this recipe, in fact, at some point I am going to make this the only ice cream in my freezer.

Delicious recipe! I did decrease the sugar a bit out of personal preference. Next time I will also use the re-sizer since my ice cream maker only does a quart at a time.

I have one word for this ice cream - AWESOME!! I thought it might be super sweet because of the honey and brown sugar, but it was just fabulous. This recipe is a KEEPER!

Love this vanilla ice cream. I didn't scrape the seeds from my vanilla bean since I was adding diced frozen fruit. This is my new go-to ice cream.

Used whole eggs and vanilla extract.

I used Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract, instead of the vanilla bean.

Way too sweet.

I made this exactly as the recipe stated. It was wonderful. Next time I will add more honey. The brown sugar gave it a rich flavor, but I wanted to taste more honey. I think I may add toasted pecans or sweetened granola next time. But alone, it was very yummy.

My family loved this ice cream! It is very creamy and rich. It has a deeper flavor than your typical vanilla that leads to others guessing what flavor it is. I will be making this again and again.

I used golden lakanto (monkfruit/erythritol blend) for the brown sugar due to a health issue in the family, but I did use real honey and this recipe was a winner! It also doesn't get rock hard like other sugar free ice creams I've made, so my guess is that's because of the honey.

I love this recipe I think cooked ice cream recipes taste more complex and richer than the recipes that you do not cook. this is on our heavy rotation.

No changes, followed the recipe exactly and this. Is. AhMAYzing! So creamy rich and delicious! Definitely a big hit and will make again!

holy I used coconut sugar instead of brown and it came out very rich and caramel flavored, and colored. Also I used my own free range eggs, so it came out looking golden. Next time I will reduce the cream by half because I only churned it the minimum amount and it still came out just a little too buttery/fatty.

We loved this recipe! Will make again... and worth getting a vanilla bean for...

This is the best ice cream I've ever made. It deserves to be in a category all by itself because plain vanilla just does not compare.

This is the BEST recipe I have ever made for ice cream. Easy, and delicious! My family has made me promise to make this for all our gatherings!

This is my second try with making homemade ice cream and my first time using the recipe. It turned out great! It was so creamy and I could taste the honey but it wasn’t overwhelming. I didn’t have vanilla beans so I just used pure vanilla extract. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. I did let it sit in the fridge overnight before putting it in the machine. I don’t eat vanilla ice cream but I would definitely eat this one.