Honeycomb ice cream with ginger shortbread stars

Method

1. Begin by making the honeycomb. Place the sugar and syrup in a saucepan and cook over a low heat until the sugar melts. Bring to the boil and cook rapidly until the caramel is a deep gold in colour.

2. Remove from the heat and sift over the bicarbonate of soda. Stir the frothy mixture, then pour on to a greased baking sheet. Allow to cool, then break into smallish chunks.

3. Whip the cream until floppy, then beat in the condensed milk and vodka. Continue whipping until the mixture is quite stiff.

4. Fold in the pieces of honeycomb plus any crumbs, then scrape into a freezer proof bowl and freeze for about 8 hours or overnight.

5. To make the ginger shortbread stars, place the flour, sugar, cold butter, ground ginger and stem ginger in a food processor.

6. Process, using short bursts of power, until you have a smooth-ish dough. Chill for about 30 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.

8. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board and cut into small star shapes, re-rolling the dough as necessary.

9. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with extra caster sugar.

10. Bake the stars in the preheated oven for 8-12 minutes, depending on their thickness. The biscuits are ready when they are light golden brown at the edges.

11. Serve the biscuits warm from the oven with the honeycomb ice cream.