Green Tea Ice Cream is a popular flavor at Japanese steakhouses. The green tea used in Green Tea Ice Cream is called Matcha in Japanese. The tea leaves used for Matcha are blocked from sunlight for a period of time before picking. They are then steamed, dried, and finally milled very finely into powder form. You will love the unique flavor of this ice cream, a delicately balance of sweetness, creaminess, and earthiness, plus it has caffeine so it will definitely give you a boost! This recipe does not have any refined sugar, but if you don't have honey and coconut sugar, you can just use white sugar.
Ingredients
- ¾ cups whole milk
- ¾ cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- Pinch sea salt
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
Instructions
- Be sure to put the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer 12-24 hours ahead of time.
- In a sauce pan, over medium-low heat, warm the milk, heavy cream and vanilla until it begins to simmer.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk the eggs, honey, coconut sugar and salt together until light and fluffy.
- Temper* the egg/sugar mixture with the milk/vanilla mixture.
- Return to the sauce pan and cook until thickened, stirring slowly and constantly. It should get to 170F.
- Remove from heat. Sift and whisk the matcha into the mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Once your ice cream base is cold, add it to the ice cream maker. Churn until it is the thickness of soft serve ice cream, 15-20 minutes.
- Transfer to a container you can freeze, cover tightly with a lid and freeze at least 2 hours.
Notes
*Tempering keeps the eggs from cooking when the warm milk/cream hits the egg/sugar mixture. To temper, slowly whisk the milk/cream mixture a little at a time into the egg/sugar. Slowly whisk the cream into the warm soup until it’s completely blended. Next, stir the combined cream and soup back into the main batch of soup, and warm until it is ready to serve. Avoid bringing the soup to a full boil; that’s another way to accidentally curdle it.
