Honeyed Pear and Walnut Ice Cream for Ice Cream Tuesday

• Combine the first amount of half and half, the honey, sugar, yolks, cornstarch and salt in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan.
• Put the cheeses in a bowl large enough to hold them as well as the custard.
• Put the second amount of half and half and the vanilla in another bowl large enough to hold everything.
• Bring the dairy mixture to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly.
• Let boil for about ten seconds and then strain the mixture into the bowl with the cheese.
• Let this sit for three or four minutes to soften up the cheese.
• Whisk the base and cheese together until smooth.
• Strain into the remaining dairy and vanilla and then stir over an ice bath until cold (no warmer than 42F if you don't want to wait until the next day to churn)
• Chill in the refrigerator until the mixture is at least 40F before putting in your ice cream maker and churning according to the manufacturer's instructions.

For the Pear Butter

• Combine the pears, honey, salt, vanilla paste or scraped bean, lemon juice and 1 Tablespoon of the brandy in a small, heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. (Use the lesser amount of honey and lemon juice and cook for at least an hour before tasting and adjusting the sweetness and/or acidity as necessary)
• Turn the heat down and simmer until the pears are very soft. Mash the pears with a potato masher or with a fork.
• Turn the heat to low and let burble slowly on the stove, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is very thick, the juices are very syrupy and the pear butter on the bottom of the pan just starts to caramelize.
• Transfer to your blender and blend until completely smooth. This makes about 1 1/2 cups of pear butter. I used all of mine in the ice cream. You don't have to if you don't want to. Just so you know.
• Let cool and stir in the last 2 teaspoons of brandy. Chill until ready to use.

For the Walnuts

• Heat your oven to 350F.
• Combine all the ingredients on a Silpat-lined sheet pan and place on the middle rack of the oven for 2 minutes to melt the butter and loosen up the honey.
• Remove from the oven and stir everything together really well.
• Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and stir one more time.
• Put the nuts back into the oven for another 5-6 minutes. You'll know they're ready when the honey mixture looks kind of foamy and is bubbling up between the nuts.
• Remove and spread out into a single layer on the Silpat.
• Let cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container. When ready to use, chop into ice cream mix in-sized pieces (whatever that means to you) and put in the freezer while the ice cream in churning.

Putting It All Together

• Once the ice cream has reached soft-serve consistency, stir in the nuts (from the freezer) until evenly distributed.
• Spread 1/4 of the pear butter in the bottom of your ice cream container (I've used all mine at this point so I just layered mine in a big old bowl).
• Top with 1/3 of the ice cream, plopping it as evenly as you can over the pear butter.
• Continue layering the pear butter and ice cream until it's all gone.
• Take a knife and swirl it around in the ice cream, lifting it up and down like a carousel horse and making sure it reaches all the way to the bottom of the container.
• Press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream and then lid it up. If you don't have a lid, use another couple of layers of plastic wrap over the top of the container.
• Put in the freezer for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight to ripen.
• Enjoy.