I have been on an ice cream making kick lately. Our kids like ice cream a lot so I make it for them. Well, to be honest, it is really for me and I just share some with them.
I usually make simple kid-friendly flavors. This time I wanted to make something unusual. I have been thinking about making an Asian ice cream flavor for awhile. I was considering Green Tea or Thai Tea flavors. Lynn was in San Diego a little while back and went to the Asian grocery stores with her mom. She was able to buy me a container of Matcha Green Tea Powder, and that settled what kind I would make. I finally had the opportunity to make it and this is what I came up with.
Green Tea Ice Cream is flavored using Matcha Green Tea Powder. It is available at Asian grocery stores. The modern world is great for expanding your tastes, because it is also easily found on Amazon. This is the type of Matcha that I used.
As a warning, some people do not like Matcha at all. If you use too much it can taste like eating grass. So, when in doubt use a little less, and don’t make too much of something using Matcha until you have tried the flavor.
Green Tea Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 2 cup Whipping Cream
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp Matcha Green Tea Powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Add milk and sugar to small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until it simmers.
- Add the Matcha to the sauce pan and stir with a whisk until the milk just starts to bubble. You are attempting to incorporate as much of the Matcha as possible into the milk.
- Pour the milk mixture through a strainer into a bowl. If you have a large amount of tea in the strainer, put the milk and tea from the strainer back into the pot and stir it in again for a minute or two. Pour back through the strainer. There will probably be a little tea in the strainer even if you mixed it in well.
- Cool the milk mixture in the refrigerator or in an ice bath.
- Add the whipping cream and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure to place the plastic wrap directly onto the mixture. It should be touching the mixture because that keeps it from forming a skin.
- Refrigerate for at least two-three hours and overnight if possible.
- Churn ice cream according to your maker’s instructions.
The mixing of the tea in is important. It needs to be well incorporated or you will have chunks of tea powder. Straining will remove those chunks, but then you lose the flavor. The first time I mixed it in, I had too much tea in the strainer and had to mix it in again.
The ice cream definitely tastes like Matcha, but I don’t think it was too overwhelming. It would be possible to use less of the powder if you are not sure about the flavor.
4 of our 6 children tried the ice cream and those 4 liked it. The 2-year-old really liked it, so I gave him some more. Our 12-year-old had Green Tea Ice Cream before when he went on a cruise with my in-laws. He said my ice cream tasted like what he had on the ship. I can’t think of higher praise than that.
-Joshua
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