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Earl Grey Ice Cream

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Look out. This may be my new favorite ice cream ever.

Seriously. I have always loved earl grey tea, and have even sampled a few different earl grey ice creams over the years, but I was stunned to find that my first attempt making it at home actually yielded my favorite results! SO delicious!

Granted, this recipe is definitely one to enjoy in moderation (no skimping on the half and half and cream here!), but oh my goodness. Every single bit is so worth it. It’s rich, creamy, subtly sweet, and has just the right strength of that classic earl grey flavor. It’s pretty much…heavenly.

I shared it with some friends to hear their opinions, and even those who weren’t huge earl grey fans immediately requested the recipe. Definitely a winner I plan to make again very soon. :)

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Earl Grey Ice Cream

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 380 minutes
  • Yield: 3-5 servings 1x

Description

You will fall in love with this delicious Earl Grey Ice Cream recipe, that can be easily prepared in the comfort of your own kitchen!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups half and half (or 1 cup heavy cream & 1 cup half and half)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 6 Earl Grey tea bags
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan, warm the milk, half and half, and sugar over medium-heat, stirring occasionally. Once the milk is steaming (but not boiling), remove pan from heat. Place the tea bags into the pan, cover and steep at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove tea bags, then return to medium-heat.
  2. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla until frothy. Once the milk mixture is re-warmed, add 2 Tbsp. of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, and quickly whisk in until combined. Repeat 2-3 more times with more of the milk mixture, then gradually pour in the remainder of the milk mixture into the egg yolks and whisk quickly until combined.
  3. Return the new milk/egg mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring and scrapping the bottom of the pan constantly until the mixture thickens to a custard and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
  4. Immediately strain through a fine-mesh strainer, and then refrigerate until completely cooled (at least 6-8 hours). Then freeze with an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Notes

Adapted from Mac & Cheese.

Ali’s Tip:

This recipe would also be fun to try with your other favorite kinds of teas! Jasmine and cinnamon are two that come to mind…

Source: Adapted from Mac & Cheese.

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38 comments on “Earl Grey Ice Cream”

  1. This sounds really interesting. Thanks.

  2. I’ve always loved the flavour of tea in desserts. This sounds divine.

  3. Earl Grey iced cream has always been my favorite! When I lived in Boston, I used to weekly make a trek (by foot) to Harvard Square to Herrell’s, which had the most perfectly creamy, bergamot-y Earl Grey iced cream I’ve ever had. Sigh…

  4. You are pretty much my hero right now.

  5. This recipe would be delicious with green tea too. Thanks for sharing!

  6. I love this idea and can’t wait to try this recipe! I wonder if it would work sweetened with honey?

  7. Looks fantastic! I see some oolong tea ice cream in my near future!

  8. Very interesting! Never heard of this before…now I must try this!

  9. This looks and sounds delicious…I’ll definitely be making it soon!

  10. Ooh… I just love this idea. Sounds like an amazing ice cream flavor!

  11. Hello,

    I am doing an end of summer ice cream round up on my own blog, All Day I Dream About Food, and would love to include this recipe. I would use one of your images, and link back to you, but I wouldn’t be posting the recipe directly. If you would like to be a part of it, please email me at carketch29 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

    Thanks,
    Carolyn

  12. This recipe is absolutely fantastic! I’d made an Earl Grey Gelato a few years back (I think I’d found the recipe in Cooking Light magazine) but lost the recipe and couldn’t find it online. This recipe is better than that one was! The only trouble is, it’s ruined us on store-bought ice cream. Nothing measures up to this!

  13. I made this the other day and it was unbelievable! So good, this was an instant favorite :)

  14. what is a half and half cream?

    • it’s a term used by americans for cream that has between 12 and 18 per cent fat. australia’s equivalent is extra light thickened cream (12% fat) or the next closest is light thickened cream (18% fat)

  15. Just a reminder to people who make this that after adding milk mixture to egg yolks and returning to the heat that the milk mixture does not exceed 71.5 degrees Celsius. If it does, the milk starts to solidify and form curdles, which is detrimental to the smoothness and creaminess of the ice cream, as well as shortening the time it takes for the ice cream to melt. It also hinders the thickening process of the ice cream!

    Other than that, the flavours that came out were superb and it’s a must make for tea and ice cream lovers

  16. Just a thought: I’m so paranoid about tea becoming bitter–especially Earl Grey–that I’m afraid 15-20 minutes of steeping in the cream will result in a bitter ice cream. Everyone else’s comments assures me that it’s delicious (and I’m sure it is), but I’m still afraid…

  17. I am very happy to say that there was absolutely no trace of bitterness in this delicious ice cream! So so good!

  18. Wanted to try out this recipe today and all I have in the fridge is heavy cream and milk. Could I do 2 cups whole milk, and 1 cup heavy cream?

  19. This recipe is is only for a pint of ice cream! Ice cream should be made by the gallon (and eaten with a small spoon). I have a green tea with a bit of orange that should be very good.

  20. This is insanely delicious! I just posted it on my blog, check it out if you’re interested :)

    https://sophiasbaking.blogspot.com/2014/02/earl-grey-ice-cream.html

  21. The last bit confuses me, freeze with an ice cream maker to manufactures instructions.. do I need an ice cream maker for this recipe or can I just freeze it?

    • Hey Claire, ideally an ice cream maker would be nice for making this, so it can churn and freeze the ice cream and yield the best results. However, if you don’t have one and want to make this recipe, there are other methods for making ice cream without an ice cream maker: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-ice-cream-without-an-ice-cream-machine-171060 I haven’t tried any myself, but they look promising, and I trust pretty much anything David Leibovitz says, he’s an ice cream genius! I hope this was helpful! : )

  22. Thankyou for recipe.am from S India, can u plz tell me what is half and half??? Thankyou

    • Hi Chithra! Half and half is a dairy product that is made up of equal parts whole milk and light cream. We hope this helps!

  23. Please… i’m not english native (portuguese) and i can’t get a proper translation… what on earth is Half and Half ?!?!

    • Hey there! Half and half is equal parts light cream and whole milk. We hope that helps, and that you enjoy the ice cream!

  24. I have made these recipe a bunch of times, and it’s always a huge hit!! Thanks so much for sharing it. I keep coming back to this recipe, even after over 2 years of using it.

  25. Do you have a recipe for this that can be used without an ice cream maker?

    • Hi Anne! Unfortunately we don’t, sorry! There are some recipes out there for no-churn earl grey ice cream though!

  26. Yummy. Thanks for this recipe. I intend to use a smoked tea. Will do follow up.

  27. This is one of the best ice cream recipes. We have made it twice since I discovered it two weeks ago. A must make.






  28. I tried with almond milk and didn’t work

  29. Have you tried mixing anything into it. I just made the mixture and was thing of folding in pieces of shortbread after it come put of the ice cream maker. Not sure if they will end up being soggy.

  30. Holy Cow, this ice cream is DELICIOUS. I gave each teabag a good squeeze after removing them from the cream mixture for optimum Earl Grey flavour. I’ve seen a few comments worrying about bitterness…don’t. The cream and sugar diffuses any bitterness, there isn’t even a HINT of it. Will be making again and definitely doubling the recipe.






  31. Just wondering if I double the recipe would I need to double the tea bags it could I do a bit less? Thanks!