Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream with Poppy Seeds

I finally got myself an ice cream maker, and to celebrate I decided to make some ice cream for the family. Made this last weekend and was surprised at how nicely it turned out. So I thought I'd do a post on it since its Friday- the weekend is almost upon us and you may want to try it out :)

I'm always on the look out for new and interesting ice cream ideas and came across quite a few Earl Grey tea ice cream recipes. Now, I have to confess that I'm not crazy about Earl Grey tea... it reminds me too much of scented soap. But, for some reason I thought that in ice cream form the bergamot flavor would be much more subtle and mellow, so I thought to myself, what the heck, right?

And I have to say I was very pleased with the results. The ice cream was rich and creamy, and the flavor beautifully subtle. The hubby was very impressed and this ice cream is now ranked number two on his list, just behind my lemon ice cream.

So if you are looking for an interesting recipe that will keep people guessing, this is definitely worth the try.

Here's what you need...

200 ml whipping cream 

1 cup whole milk

1/3 cup condensed milk

4 tea bags Twinings Earl Grey tea

2 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp corn starch

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

Here's what you do...

Heat the milk, cream and condensed milk in a heavy bottom pan. Don't allow it to come to the boil. Add the tea bags to this. Cover and allow to steep for about 15-20 mins. Remove the tea bags, squeezing out all the liquid that you can. Re heat.

While the milk mixture is heating, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the sugar is almost dissolved and the mixture lightens in color. Then add in the golden syrup, corn starch and vanilla extract. 

Slowly add half the warm milk mixture to the egg mixture. Make sure to beat the mixture while adding the milk.

Empty this into the remaining milk mixture and heat while stirring continuously until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. This is the custard and once its ready, remove from heat and allow to cool. Once at room temperature, keep in refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. 

Churn chilled custard in ice cream maker as per manufacturer's instructions. I add the salt and the poppy seeds right at the end. Once its ready, I place the ice cream in the freezer to harden for another few hours. Serve it up and watch it disappear! 

Happy weekend everyone!

[Image - Shalini Pereira]