With all the rain we’re having in SF this week, I think it’s safe to say: It’s officially Fall. I’m pretty pumped about Fall, since the season brings the best clothes, best bike riding weather (who wants to ride bikes when it’s 90 degrees out? Not me.), and I can use the fireplace. Still, there is one trapping of Summer that I am never ok with letting go: ICE CREAM. Which is how I came up with the idea for a recipe that uses my favorite fall flavor, Chai Tea, to make ice cream socially acceptable for Fall.
The Chai is adapted from a recipe by SolBar at Solage Calistoga. You’ll also need some sort of ice cream maker. I used a KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment
Ingredients
For the Chai Tea
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger, or 1 oz fresh ginger
- 2 Tablespoons of Baker’s Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons of honey
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 Tablespoon cardamom pods, crushed
- 3 ea whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 16 oz cold water
- 2 Tablespoons (roughly 2 bags) Assam tea
- (Optional) Milk or Soy Milk – if you want to have some leftover Chai tea for yourself
- 1 cup 2% milk (or whole milk, if you like really rich ice cream)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- Pinch of Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup of Chai Tea from previous recipe (refrigerated)
Make it
Make the Chai
- First you need to make the Chai tea. Combine the ginger, sugar, honey, vanilla bean, cinnamon, crushed cardamom pods, cloves, ground nutmeg, and water into a large pot.
- Bring the pot to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the pot from heat, and add the Assam tea. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Strain the tea, making sure all the large clumps from your chai brew have been removed. Let the tea cool, then cover and refrigerate. If you’d like some chai for yourself, you can have it hot or cold with an equal amount of milk or soymilk.
Make the Ice Cream
- In a large bowl, gently whisk together your granulated sugar, milk, and heavy cream until the sugar is just dissolved. Cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Add your milk mixture to the ice-cream maker (note: if you’re using a kitchen-aid mixer like I did, you need to freeze the attachment bowl 2 days before to make sure it is SUPER cold), and slowly churn your mixture. As it begins churning, add the 1/4 cup of chai.
- Allow to churn for 20-30 minutes. You can enjoy your ice cream now, or for an even better texture, put your mixture in the freezer for an additional 2-3 hours.
Tips:
- Be careful not to over churn your ice cream, as it will actually begin to start melting over time.
- For long-term storage of your ice cream, use waxed cups. Disposable coffee cups are great, or if you can find soup containers at a restaurant supply store that would be great too.
That’s it! Super easy, and the whole recipe takes very little time at all (in between all the waiting…but hey, good things come to those who wait!). I’m super excited to share this recipe with my friends and family. I feel like it would be AWESOME with some Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving. Srsly.
