Earl Grey Ice Cream

I love gifting homemade goodies and I also love receiving food gifts, be it homemade or store-bought... (also I don't mind getting cash or gift cards, fyi).  Sometime ago, my best friend, Natasha got me a box of delicious breakfast Earl Grey tea and I've been wanting to do something special with them... and this Earl Grey ice cream is especially delicious.  It's very easy to make and you don't even need an ice-cream maker. I don't have one (hey, another gift idea...). Normally, I like my tea black with no sugar; but this is an exception. The ice cream is rich, creamy and not too sweet, with just the right strength of that distinctive Earl Grey flavour.  Go ahead, make it and enjoy!

Earl Grey Ice Cream

250 ml full-fat milk
500 ml double cream
150 gr caster sugar
6 Earl Grey tea bags
1 tsp vanilla paste, or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
5 egg yolks

In a saucepan, warm the milk, cream and sugar.  Give it a stir occasionally.  Once the milk is steaming, take it off the heat and place the tea bags and vanilla paste into the saucepan and let them steep for 20 minutes or more.  I might have left mine a bit longer.  Give it a stir every now and then. Remove the tea bags, and return the saucepan to medium-heat.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until light and frothy.  Slowly pour the tea and vanilla infused milk and cream onto the yolks, whisking as you go. Return then milk/egg mixture into the saucepan and continue cooking over low heat.  Stir constantly with a wooden spoon and make sure to scrape the bottom and corners of the pan, until the mixture is steaming and thickens to a custard.  When the mixture coats the back of your wooden spoon, it's done.

Using a fine sieve, strain into a container and refrigerate until completely cooled.  If you have an ice-cream maker, go ahead and use it according to the manufacturer's instruction.  I haven't got one, so if you're like me, what you need to do is put the ice cream base into a covered container.  Stick it in the fridge and give it a good whip every hour for three hours, either with a hand-mixer or by hand with a whisk.  This will prevent the ice-crystals from forming and in the end you'll get a nice, smooth and silky ice-cream.  After the three hours, just keep in the freezer for another few hours and you know what to do next...

This Earl Grey ice cream is also my entry for this month's BSFIC.  The theme this month is ice creams that are inspired by hot drinks... So, get your creative cap on and join the fun!