Lavender Earl Grey Ice Cream

A new obsession has fallen on the house of Blake and it's Earl Grey tea. I'm drinking it hot and iced (the weather's still so weird — warm, cool, warm, cool), putting it in truffles, and my crowning achievement, this ice cream. This may be the best ice cream I've ever put in my mouth, ever. EVER.

Tea in desserts has been a thing I've been working on over the years, and have included a few recipes for it here including masala chai tea ice cream, thai tea popsicles, and now this one, the mother of all tea ice creams. My tea came from The Market Tea Room in West Columbia, and at this rate I'm going to need to buy her entire stock of Earl Grey tea. This ice cream is refreshing, lightly floral, and just plain desirable.

If you're looking for an ice cream maker for this summer, I can't recommend the Cuisinart ice cream maker enough. I have it in green (though this pink is looking amazing), and I also have an additional ice cream maker bowl for times when one batch just isn't enough, aka always. It isn't too loud, and it fits easily into a cabinet for winter storage.

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Lavender Earl Grey Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate

Delicate lavender and earl grey flavored ice cream is made rich and luxe with dark chocolate flecks. This will become your new favorite unusual ice cream flavor.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword earl grey tea, ice cream, lavender

Total Time 2 hours hours

Servings 8 servings

Author April

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• ¼ cup Earl Grey tea loose
• 1 tbsp food-grade lavender buds
• 4 egg yolks
• ⅓ cup sugar
• ½ cup dark chocolate shavings
• purple food coloring

Instructions

• Mix the heavy cream and milk in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid.
• Bring to just a simmer, where it's warm to the touch but not boiling. Remove from the heat and add the loose tea and lavender buds and stir well to combine. 
• Cover the pan with the lid and let steep for 5-10 minutes.
• Strain the tea leaves and lavender out, using a mesh strainer. 
• In a separate (large) bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar together.
• A spoonful at a time, add the warm cream mixture, keeping the eggs constantly in motion. Once all of the cream and all of the eggs have been mixed, strain the combined mixture over the mesh strainer back into the saucepan. 
• Cook the combination mixture over medium heat, stirring almost constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Add the purple food coloring at this step, use your creativity and judgement to decide how purple you want yours to be. 
• Pour the mixture into a bowl and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, or overnight.
• Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Once the ice cream starts thickening up considerable, add in the dark chocolate shavings and let those mix in until the ice cream is ready.
• Decant to freezer-safe storage containers and let ripen overnight in the freezer before eating. 

I've gotten more into drinking different types of tea other than plain black tea lately, and they are all really delicious in their own ways. I like that some teas are caffeinated and some aren't, but almost all of them have a great herbal or floral taste. Tea also has some physically beneficial qualities, and if you like science stuff you'll love this article on the health benefits of tea. The caffeine is really the only health benefit I'm looking for though, and maybe some of the anti-inflammatory ones as well. You can never be too un-inflamed.

If you want to learn more about teas and you're local to Columbia, SC, visit the Market Tea Room for tea tutoring, tea parties, and tea just! Don't forget the Earl Grey to go.

Want even more tea infused cold desserts? Try Thai tea popsicles, sweet tea ice cream, and masala chai ice cream.