Lavender Ice Cream for a Picnic in Provence
On my bucket list is a trip to Provence during the summer months. I’ve always had a love affair with Provence and all things related to this French town (including lavender ice cream), but thanks to modern tales like Picnic in Provence, this romance has taken on a fervor it lacked before.
Lavender Ice Cream
The abundance of farmers markets, the gorgeous countryside backdrop, and the delicately infused lavender ice cream that you can find there has my heart pitter-pattering for this French destination.
I imagine that the day I visit Provence, I will be spending much of my time shopping at the markets and making stops at artisanal ice cream shops.
Until then, I can happily say that I’ve gotten my lavender ice cream fix with this easy, no-churn ice cream recipe.
The recipe was inspired by one I had seen on Half Baked Harvest, with lavender and blackberries.
I tend to enjoy a more subtle lavender flavor so I use less lavender in my recipe. When there’s too much lavender in lavender ice cream, it can end up tasting like you’re just eating a pile of lavender flowers.
But if you’re absolutely in love with the flavor of lavender, feel free to double the amount of lavender used in this recipe.
No-churn ice cream is a really brilliant solution (that I can’t take credit for) for people (like me) who don’t own ice cream machines.
It’s amazing what you can do with some whipping cream and a can of sweetened condensed milk.
If you’re new to no-churn ice cream, the basic gist is that heavy whipping cream gets whisked into actual whipped cream before it’s gently folded into some sweetened condensed milk. Any extra flavors or ingredients you want to add, such as the lavender and blackberries that we use for this recipe, get stirred in as well.
Then it’s just a matter of waiting for the mixture to chill in the freezer until it’s firm like ice cream.
The blackberries in this recipe give this lavender ice cream their wonderful purple hue, while adding a little blackberry flavor and texture. I like the speckled look of the ice cream from the blackberries as well.
While picnicking in Provence may not be in my immediate future, I can definitely visualize myself there with a scoop of this lavender ice cream!
Lavender Ice Cream
Homemade, no-churn ice cream flavored with lavender and fresh blackberries.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp dried lavender buds
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 7 oz . sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 cup blackberries, mashed
Instructions
- Begin by creating the lavender infusion. Warm the milk over medium-low heat in a small saucepan until the milk is just beginning to simmer. Lower the heat to low, add the dried lavender buds and let the buds rest in the milk over low heat for approximately 5 minutes. Pour this mixture into a small bowl and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cool.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the heavy whipping cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the vanilla extract, then continue to whisk on high speed until stiffer peaks form.
- Add the sweetened condensed milk to the whipped cream, and gently fold the condensed milk into the cream using a rubber spatula.
- Strain the lavender milk using a sieve, tossing the lavender buds away, leaving the infused milk to be used. Add this milk to the whipped cream-condensed milk batter. Add in the mashed blackberries. Gently stir everything together to combine.
- Pour the batter into a loaf pan, then directly cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Freeze until firm - about 4 hours.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 6 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 295
So, a while back in Savannah, GA I tasted Lavender ice cream. This was a seasonal flavor & I have been craving it ever since.
I tried this recipe, the flavors are marvelous & it was so easy. Thank you so much!! I will be making this again.
Hi Reshma! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for the kind feedback. 🙂
HI I made this and it is beautiful. I tried lavender soft serve in japan once and fell in love and have been wanting to reprise it.
Just found the taste of condense milk to be overpowering. Is there a substitute for condensed milk I could use instead. it was way too sweet and the taste of condensed milk was too much.
Hi Raihana! I have seen no-churn ice cream recipes made with canned coconut milk for a dairy-free/vegan version, but I have never used canned coconut milk myself. I would suggest doing a search for a vegan no-churn ice cream to see the method in which they use the coconut milk and try to adapt that to this recipe. That said, coconut would definitely be a flavor you would detect in the ice cream then.
If it’s just the sugar content you’re worried about, you could try making your own sweetened condensed milk so that you could control the amount of sugar. Just another idea! 🙂
Help! I made a mistake and accidentally mixed in the lavender buds instead of straining them. Is my ice cream ruined? Is there anything I can do to save it?
Hi Melissa! I would just think that your ice cream may be stronger in lavender flavor? I’ve honestly never tried making this without straining them, so I’m not sure what the end result would be. It’s not like the ice cream would be inedible as lavender is edible. If you ended up tasting it, please let me know how it went! 🙂
As my mulberry tree will soon be laden ( Spring in Australia) I am going to try substituting the blackberries. Also going to try the vegan alternative with coconut cream and almond milk.
Hi Roberta! Mulberries sound delicious! Hope you enjoy this recipe <3
Stunning, Beeta! Simply stunning! Lavender is such an under used ingredient in the States and for the life of me I cannot understand why – it’s SO wonderful! I’m going to have to make this gorgeous dessert and thank you for making it no churn! I hope you get to spend that summer in Provence soon my dear 🙂
Thanks so much, Kathleen! I agree; lavender is not used as much as it should be! And I can’t wait to try YOUR no-churn ice cream recipe as well <3
I’ve never been to Provence, so have fun for me!! And take lots of pictures to share of course! No churn ice cream is the best and I am LOVING the lavender flavor, Beeta!! Such a pretty color and I’ll bet it tastes amazing! Perfect for all the warm weather we are finally getting! Cheers, sweets – to a fabulous Memorial weekend!
Thanks so much, Cheyanne! We’ll see who gets there first…it might be you! 😀 Hope you had a lovely Memorial Day <3
This ice cream is so easy I can make it at least once, or twice, a week! lol! You know I’m not supposed to be eating dairy right now but I’m going to make this ice cream this weekend. Pat yourself on the back for creating a delicious recipe and pics unbelievably gorgeous enough to make me give up my diet 😉 Have a wonderful holiday weekend, my friend.
Thanks Karrie! Sorry to have brought you over to the dark side 😉 I tend to do that a lot…French and diet should never go in the same sentence!
I used coconut milk and condensed coconut cream. It was fabulous
That’s fantastic, Colleen! So glad you enjoyed this, thank you! <3