Chai Tea Ice Cream

Seeing as how I still have an ice maker on loan, I thought I'd explore another ice cream notion that's been floating around in my head.

After making the green tea granita a while back, I was playing around with other tea-related goodies which led me to chai.  I absolutely love the spice blend of chai tea and a chai tea latte is one of my favorite beverages, so decided to try it in frozen form.

The result is a light and airy, creamy confection of ice cream goodness.  It was all I could do not to eat the entire batch in one sitting. 

Chai Tea Ice Cream

4 chai tea bags
2 cups heavy cream + a tidge
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk

Measure out a tidge over 2 cups of heavy cream.  Drop your chai tea bags in the cream and refrigerate for a day or two (depends on how strong you want your chai flavoring to be).  The extra tidge of cream makes up for the bit of that's going to get soaked up and not be squeezed free from the tea bags.

Once the chai base is ready, strain the tea bags and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and milk until the sugar is dissolved.  Takes about 1-2 minutes depending on how well you whisk.

Once the sugar is dissolved, mix in the chai cream until well blended.

Turn your ice cream maker on and pour the mixture in.  Let the machine run for 25-30 minutes.

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Ready to serve.  A sprinkle of cinnamon makes the perfect garnish.

NOTES

If you don't want to wait a day or two for the cream base to be done, you can scald your cream with the tea bags in it.  You'll want to cool your mixture to cold either over an ice bath or by putting it in the refrigerator until it is thoroughly cooled.  The key is make sure that all your ingredients are cold when you put it in the ice cream maker.

With regard to the milk I would use whole or 2% to maintain a creamy texture.

If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can put the ice cream mix in the freezer in a shallow container, stirring it every 30-40 minutes to blend in the parts from the edges that freeze first.  Repeat until ice cream has reached the desired consistency.