Chai Tea Ice Cream

I flippin' love chai tea lattes. Too bad it usually tastes crappy when I try to make it from scratch since I don't own the proper equipment, and it's too expensive at Starbucks to order as often as I'd like to. My solution is now to make a large vat of chai tea ice cream and store it in the freezer for whenever a craving hits, because this literally tastes like a creamy frozen latte and it definitely hits the spot. And you don't even need fancy teas, since Lipton tea bags work perfectly fine :) You do need to own a crapload of spices though, and luckily I had everything necessary on hand.

CHAI ICE CREAM

Recipe Adapted From Serious Eats

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted (3/4 teaspoon ground)
• 1 teaspoon allspice berries (about 10), toasted (3/4 teaspoon ground)
• 8 cloves, toasted (1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1 whole star anise, toasted (1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 6 cardamom pods, slightly crushed and toasted (3/4 teaspoon ground)
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, toasted (1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tablespoons ginger, grated (I just used powdered)
• 2 cups cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup black tea leaves (I used 5 tea bags)
• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Gather your spices and mix it all in a bowl.

Bring milk and cream to a simmer, then stir spices into the diary. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and steep for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, bring milk mixture to a boil again. Remove from heat and steep tea for 15 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick.

Add about half of the hot dairy to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to mix.

Transfer egg mixture to the rest of the dairy mixture in the saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook mixture on medium heat for a couple minutes until slightly thickened until the custard can coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the salt. Strain the mixture into a bowl and chill overnight. You may skip straining if you only used tea bags and very few whole spices (which you should pick out). When the custard is completely chilled, churn it in your ice cream machine. 

After churning, I transfer as much as I can into a separate container to chill further, and then enjoy the rest of the soft serve with a spoon :) This is the reason why ice cream always tastes the best on the day when I make it.