Guest Post - Harrison of Milk and Leaf Co.

Hello!

My name is Harrison and I'm an avid ice cream maker who a bit ago began focusing on making specifically tea infused ice cream. I live in the East Fremont/Wallingford neighborhood and recently was asking some questions about tea while at the shop. After a very helpful exchange, and a returned sample of the results, Friday suggested I make a guest blog post to share my story and give a recipe so people can make tea infused ice cream at home!

Before we get into the recipe, I thought I'd share a little bit on what ice cream and tea means to me. I started making ice cream actually as a way to slow myself down. See, I've always eaten a lot of ice cream. Like, a lot. Growing up, my family always had ice cream around the house. We liked to sit and talk while eating a large bowl full. That tradition only expanded as I got older and it became common for dinner plans to end with "so, ice cream?" Ice cream has always been an institution in my life, but at a certain point I thought I was eating it too much. I decided at that point that I would start making ice cream. I figured, if I make myself only eat ice cream that I made it would take more time, and I would end up eating less.

Maybe you've figured out where this is going, but that didn't exactly go as planned. Instead I got so into making the ice cream that, with some upgraded equipment, I now make it just about every week! The thing I didn't expect was how much I would grow to love experimenting with different flavors, and nothing has been more fun/interesting to me than infusing my ice cream with tea! I initially liked the pairing of tea and ice cream because tea, much like ice cream to me, is often a social thing. You grab tea with your friend while catching up just like I have done with ice cream many times in my life. Because of that, I wanted to bring those two things together, and that combination has lead to a new world of flavors for me to make!

Creamy Rooibos Magic

Recipe: Rooibos Cream Cheese Ice Cream  
A few things about this recipe. I went with Rooibos tea because it's one of my favorite teas for infusing ice cream. Its small needles and strong flavor make it really stand out amongst the milk and cream in the ice cream. Also on the ice cream side of things, this recipe is for a lighter, more gelato-like (but not actually gelato, in case any gelato aficionados are reading this!) base. This will make the Rooibos flavor pop even more! This recipe will make you about a quart of ice cream.

Ingredients:
2.5 tablespoons Rooibos tea
3 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1/8 tablespoon salt (I think of it as one pinch)
 3 trays of ice cubes
A gallon ziplock bag

• In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and the salt. Make sure the cream cheese is softened as it will need to be able to be whisked into the mix later. Set this bowl aside for now.
• In a different, smaller bowl, whisk the egg yolks and a little bit (a tablespoon or two) of milk together until just combined. Set it aside.
• In a large sauce pan, combine the 3 cups of milk, cream and sugar. Stir it together and cook on medium high heat (stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't rise too much) until it boils. Let it boil for 5 minutes and then remove it from the heat.
• Place the Rooibos tea into a medium bowl. Pour the milk and cream mixture into the bowl and set it aside to steep for 15 minutes covered with a towel. Once done steeping, strain out the tea using a fine mesh sieve, and put the milk and cream mixture back into the sauce pan.
• Whisk the egg yolks into the milk and cream. Place it back on the burner at medium heat and bring it back to a boil, stirring often. Do this for about 2 minutes until the mixture becomes slightly more custard looking, then remove it from the heat.
• Pour the mixture into the cream cheese and salt bowl and whisk it until you can't see cream cheese chunks anymore.
• Once done mixing, take three trays full of ice and put it in a large bowl with some cold water. Pour the ice cream mix into the ziplock bag and seal (make sure it's completely sealed!). Submerge the bag into the ice water and let it chill for 30 minutes.
• Once it's done chilling, pour the mixture into your ice cream machine of choice* and let it churn for about 30 minutes or until the ice cream is no longer sticking to the walls of the machine. Remove the ice cream from the canister and put it into a sealable container (most tupperware will work) and place it in your freezer for about 4 hours before serving (to make sure it's properly frozen). 

It's now done and ready to be enjoyed! I like to sprinkle something on top of each bowl I make, like shredded coconut, for added texture. Let me know if you stumble upon some amazing combination of your own with this flavor!

*(It's likely you are using a machine with a removable canister. If you are, make sure it has been put in the freezer overnight before using. Otherwise, your ice cream won't get cold enough for the churning process to work properly, and it will be more like frozen milk soup when everything is done...)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy using the recipe! And thank you Friday for letting me do a guest post! If you want to follow my tea infused ice cream adventures, or just like looking at pictures of ice cream, please follow me @milkandleafco on instagram or feel free to reach out to me with any questions at milkandleafco@gmail.com. I'd love to answer any questions you have, or talk about various ice cream and tea related things!

Bye everyone!
Harrison.