Winter harvest dessert: Rosemary-honey ice cream and orange shortbread skillet cookie

I wanted to make something inspired by the winter garden for our Valentine’s dessert, and the garden inspired our dinner too.

I served the rosemary-honey ice cream in vintage glass sundae dishes.

We always skip restaurants on Valentine’s Day and celebrate at home instead. I don’t have a specific meal that I make annually. Over the years, I’ve made heart-shaped pizza (don’t forget my flatbread recipe), beef heart, homegrown and homemade gnocchi, and I sometimes rely on local bakeries for dessert.

This Valentine’s Day was extra special because it was the 10-year anniversary of buying our home. When we moved into our home, we didn’t have chickens, I could have cared less about a garden, I was afraid of bees and wasn’t a beekeeper, and I would have never imagined I would have pigs. I love how our home has shaped our lifestyle and values.

When thinking of what to make for Valentine’s dinner and dessert, I tapped into what we have at home this time of the year. I made the menu decisions on the day of—mostly on my drive home in the early evening. For dinner, I made Swedish meatballs with a sage-garlic cream sauce. Sage is a year-round pioneer both in and out of the garden. I love using it in different areas around the property because it provides a little green all year long, deer don’t bother it, and pollinators love the flowers. According to Rosemary Gladstar’s book MEDICINAL HERBS, sage is anti-inflammatory and helps fight colds and flus. My husband and I aren’t fighting a cold right now, but being that we’re in flu season, it feels like the perfect herb to ramp up in our meals. Garlic scapes are growing tall right now and are perfect in sauces, salads, and vinaigrettes. (As I write this, I think I’m going to make a sage-garlic scape pesto next!)

Meatballs with a sage-garlic cream sauce.

Our other perennially green garden friend is rosemary. Per Gladstar’s book, rosemary has antioxidants and aids in digestion of fats and starches. I thought it would be great to incorporate rosemary into our dessert since our dinner had fats and starches. I’ve also been wanting to use my ice cream maker, which has been sitting in the corner of a closet since summer. Pairing rosemary in a cream felt like a good fit.

Whenever I make ice cream I use caster sugar, it’s a superfine grain that incorporates with the cream easier than a standard granulated sugar. (If you don’t have caster sugar, I’ve also made successful ice creams by putting granulated sugar in a food processor and pulsing it into a smaller grain.) For the rosemary-honey ice cream, I reduced the caster sugar load because I was adding honey.

I may have shared in an earlier post that I made a terrible error when I sold my honey last year: I bottled and confirmed all orders before setting honey aside for myself. Fortunately, the prior year’s harvest was so big that I still had a lot left. Now, however, I’m supporting other beekeepers and enjoying different honey flavors locally, regionally, and even internationally—a friend brought me back a bottle of honey from Japan and it’s fantastic! For this dessert, I used a eucalyptus honey from California.

I found the eucalyptus honey last year at a local beekeeper’s shop that features regional and out-of-town honeys. Fortunately, she expanded her retail presence and opened a new shop in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Last weekend we went to Willabee Market’s soft opening and I found some organic citrus there. I'm not sure if the oranges were from Florida or California, but they were delicious. I used the orange to flavor a shortbread skillet cookie.

Skillet cookie dough.

Making this dessert fit Valentine’s well, not just the flavors, but logistically it fit in perfectly. The shortbread dough can be put together before making dinner, and then bake while dinner is cooking. Then the cookie cools and the ice cream machine runs while eating dinner.

Rosemary-honey ice cream garnished with orange shortbread skillet cookie points.

Rosemary-honey ice cream recipe

Serves 4 (I went back for thirds!)

1 tbsp fresh rosemary
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/8 cup honey
1 tbsp vanilla extract (make your own vanilla extract)

1. 6-to-24 hours before adding ingredients to the ice cream maker, chop a tablespoon of fresh rosemary and place it in one cup of heavy cream. Leave in the fridge to cold infuse.

2. In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients—including the infused cream—and whisk gently for a few minutes. (I personally left the chopped rosemary in, but you can strain the leaves.) The honey will clump when it’s introduced to the cold ingredients. Don’t worry about getting the honey incorporated at this step. The mixing of the ice cream maker will fully incorporate it.

3. Turn on the ice cream maker and slowly pour in all ingredients.

4. Allow ice cream maker to run for 20–25 minutes until ice cream reaches the right consistency.

5. Scoop into your favorite serving dish. Garnish with an orange-shortbread cookie.

Skillet cookie

Orange-shortbread skillet cookie

Serves 2

1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1–2 tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Grease an 8” cast iron skillet with butter.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, and salt to a fluffy consistency. (I use a wooden spoon and a bowl, but you can use a handmixer or standmixer.)

4. Mix in orange zest, vanilla, and flour.

5. Form the dough into a ball and let it rest for 10-15 minutes at room temperature. This allows all the ingredients to marry.

6. Press the dough into the skillet to your desired thickness.

7. Bake 20–25 minutes until the dough is light brown. (Mine were a little overdone at 25 minutes.)

8. Remove from oven and let cool on the counter for 2–3 minutes. Cut into desired shapes and place on a cooling rack for 10–15 minutes.