Dairy Ice Creams: Chocolate, Honeycomb, Strawberry – With Buttery Shortbread Recipe

Make the dough

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Cut the cold butter into small cubes. In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour, cornstarch and salt with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar until evenly distributed. Press the mixture together gently to form a cohesive dough; if it feels too dry, add 1 tsp cold water.

Shape and bake

Press the dough evenly into a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 in) square baking tin lined with parchment, or roll between two sheets of parchment to 5 mm thickness and cut into squares. Dock lightly with a fork to prevent large bubbles. Bake for 20–25 minutes until pale golden at the edges. Remove from the oven, brush with the melted butter while warm, and sprinkle sea salt flakes if using. Cool completely in the tin, then cut into serving-size pieces or crumble for serving.

Cook sugar syrup

Line a baking sheet with parchment and have a small heatproof jug ready. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, golden syrup and 1 tablespoon water. Without stirring (to avoid crystallization), heat over medium until the sugar dissolves, then increase heat and let it bubble gently until it reaches an amber color (around 155–160°C / 310–320°F on a candy thermometer). If you don't have a thermometer, watch for a deep golden hue and a toffee aroma; this usually takes 6–8 minutes.

Add bicarbonate

Remove the pan from the heat immediately and carefully whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will foam vigorously. Pour the frothy honeycomb onto the prepared parchment in one go and leave to cool and set (about 30 minutes). Once set, break into shards. Reserve about 30 g of shards for garnishing and fold the rest into one ice cream (see below).

Infuse cream and milk

Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan with the cocoa powder and salt. Warm gently over medium heat until it just begins to steam and small bubbles form around the edge, whisking to dissolve the cocoa. Do not boil.

Temper egg yolks

While the milk warms, whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar until pale and slightly thickened. Slowly pour about 100 ml of the hot milk mixture into the yolks while whisking constantly to temper them. Then pour the tempered yolks back into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture.

Cook custard

Return the pan to low–medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, scraping the base, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon (about 5–8 minutes). Do not let it boil or the eggs will curdle.

Add chocolate

Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped dark chocolate and vanilla until fully melted and smooth. If needed, pass the custard through a fine sieve into a clean bowl to remove any cooked egg bits and to ensure smoothness.

Chill

Cool the custard quickly by setting the bowl in an ice bath and stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until fully chilled (at least 4 hours or overnight).

Churn and finish

Churn the chilled chocolate custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions until it reaches soft-serve consistency. Transfer to a container and smooth the top. Press a layer of plastic wrap directly onto the surface, freeze until firm (at least 4 hours).

Prepare strawberries

Place the halved strawberries, caster sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and macerate for 30 minutes to draw out juices. After macerating, puree the strawberries to a smooth or slightly textured purée depending on preference. Pass through a sieve if you want an extra-smooth texture.

Make custard base

In a saucepan, warm the milk and half the cream with the salt until steaming. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl with a small amount of the warm milk to temper, then return tempered yolks to the pan. Stir over low heat until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 4–6 minutes. Remove from heat.

Combine and chill

Stir the strawberry purée and the remaining cold cream and vanilla into the custard. Mix until uniform. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (at least 4 hours or overnight).

Churn and fold

Churn the chilled strawberry base in an ice cream machine until thickened to soft-serve. If you want pieces of honeycomb in the strawberry ice cream, fold in about two-thirds of the reserved crumbled honeycomb when the churned ice cream is soft before transferring to the freezer. Transfer to a container, press plastic wrap onto the surface, and freeze until firm (4 hours).

Assemble three-flavor presentation

When all three ice creams are frozen and firm, remove from the freezer 10–15 minutes before serving to soften slightly for scooping. Arrange scoops of chocolate, strawberry (with honeycomb folded in) and plain honeycomb-sprinkled shortbread alongside or on top of the shortbread squares. Scatter remaining honeycomb shards over the plate and garnish with mint if using.

Optional chocolate-honeycomb combo

If you prefer honeycomb in the chocolate ice cream, fold small shards (about 30 g) into the chocolate ice cream after churning but before hard-freezing so they remain crunchy. Reserve some shards to sprinkle over each serving.

Storage

Store leftover ice cream in airtight containers with plastic wrap pressed to the surface to minimize ice crystals. Shortbread will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days; honeycomb will keep in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week but may soften in humid conditions.