Lavender Ice Cream with Pine Nut Praline

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Praline: Lightly toast pine nuts on a parchment-lined baking sheet and set aside.

In a saucepan, boil the sugar and water to make a medium golden caramel. Pour carefully over the pine nuts. Cool at room temperature.

When completely cooled and hard, break into small pieces with a rolling pin.

Ice cream: Bring the water to a full boil. Remove from heat and add lavender tea bags. Cover and infuse 30 minutes. Discard tea bags.

In a saucepan, combine lavender water and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set the syrup aside in the pan.

In a bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed for 2 minutes with a hand mixer.  Reduce speed to medium-low and add hot syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl, beating constantly. This operation cooks the egg yokes.

Add cream, mix and refrigerate overnight.

Pour the cold mixture into an ice cream machine and proceed according to the manufacturer's instructions. When ice cream is almost ready, add the praline pieces and mix well. Store in the freezer and leave at room temperature15 minutes before serving.