For anyone who loves ice cream but doesn’t own an ice cream
maker, this is the recipe for you. The steps are very similar to
those involved in making ice cream: you heat egg yolks (here, with
a boiling sugar mixture) and then incorporate cream. Only in
normal ice cream, the cream isn’t whipped first; here, you fold in
whipped cream, which gives the semifreddo (which means “half
frozen” in Italian) a light-as-air fluffiness, resulting in something
that’s like the secret love child of gelato and a marshmallow. The
only step that’s tricky is adding the hot sugar mixture. Make sure
it’s at the right temperature (use a candy thermometer) or the eggs
might coagulate. If you do screw up, take heart; it takes just a few
more eggs to start again.
1¼ cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
¾ cup sugar, plus more for topping
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
½ cup fresh blackberries
1 or 2 tablespoons honey
¼ cup toasted sliced almonds
Whip the cream, either by hand or in a stand mixer with a whisk
attachment, until it holds stiff peaks*. Cover with plastic and
refrigerate.
Begin beating the egg yolks in a clean bowl in a stand mixer with
a clean whisk attachment on medium-low speed. While you do