whew, hot!
Recipe: green tea ice cream
I guess that heat wave found me! Actually, I met it part way just because it’s still tolerable up here in the mountains when it’s pushing the 90s down in Boulder. The hitch this time was that our town busted a huge leak in its water supply a few days ago and the geniuses who run the town didn’t start to tell anyone about it until today. Hot weather is one thing, but hot weather without water is something else entirely. And hot weather in the fire-prone Mountain West without water is dangerous. We got the news of the water shortage this evening at 6 pm and by 7:30 pm we heard that the leak had been found and fixed. We’re still conserving water (well, we try to in general – you shouldn’t need a shortage of something to convince you that it is ass stupid to waste it), but at least we can flush the toilets!
Well, it finally feels like summer to me because I am squinting my eyes under the blazing sun down in Boulder and wishing for two or three feet of fluffy powder to shred. As I think more about snow and powder, images of snow cones drizzled in syrupy colors and fruity flavors dance in my head. It’s the onset of delirium brought about by the heat, I tell you. Notice how the latest trend of sweets have all been refrigerator or freezer treats? It’s not just me – it’s everyone on this side of the planet. Today’s is no different.
some tea with your cream?
I’ve made this ice cream several times already because it is one of Jeremy’s most requested flavors. I just love to play with matcha powder. Since my aunt is coming back this weekend to retrieve my cousin from his 2-week summer program, I thought a dish of matcha ice cream would be a welcome relief after their long, hot drive from New Mexico.
milk and egg yolks
straining custard into the cream
It should be no surprise to anyone that this is a recipe from The Lebovitz (The Perfect Scoop). Perhaps one day I will move on to other ice cream recipes, but I am having too much fun (and success) with TPS this summer. As long as it doesn’t get too oppressively hot, I can stand stirring a custard over the stove top for the anticipated reward.
chill out and then churn in the ice cream maker
[I have to chill my custard on ice packs because we don’t own an ice maker. I know – a Southern-born dope (me) without an ice machine?! When we purchased our fridge/freezer years ago I knew there were two things I wanted: 1) full-width fridge and 2) no ice maker. Why? For making cakes and pastries… you need *s p a c e*.]
ready for freezing
Green tea is a truly refreshing and cleansing flavor for me. I’ve always had it as hot tea growing up – only discovering iced green teas and green tea ice creams and green tea candies when I went away to college. The beauty of a small nip of green tea ice cream is how smooth and silky the texture is, while the cool temperature and uplifting green tea flavor feel so lively and bright. It soothes and awakens at the same time, which is just what you need when the mercury is on the rise.
just a spot of (green) tea (ice cream)
Green Tea Ice Cream
[print recipe]
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
4 tsps matcha (green tea powder)
6 large egg yolks
Warm milk, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. Pour cream into a large bowl and whisk in green tea powder. Set mesh strainer on top. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together and slowly pour in the warmed milk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the contents back into the pan and stir over medium heat with a heatproof spatula. Continue to stir until mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Remove from heat and pour the custard through the strainer, stirring it into the cream. Whisk vigorously to dissolve the green tea powder. Stir until cool over an ice bath (or a bunch of reusable drugstore ice packs). Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Don’t you just love The Perfect Scoop? I served David Lebovitz’s blueberry frozen yogurt with his homemade cones the other day….so good! And have you tried the chewy-dense brownies in there? He says they are good for adding to ice cream, but they are now my most requested treat!
June 27th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I drink green tea pretty much every day and yet I can not hang with the matcha flavored desserts. I don’t know why. It’s pretty though. Our heat wave starts tomorrow.
Me and my no a/c are going to be very unhappy.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:32 am
Both my boys and their fearless leader (that would be me) LOVE green tea. We drink hot, cold and I was thinking about making popsicles with it, but this…oh wow. Maybe I should have asked for an ice cream maker for my birthday.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:53 am
I had Green tea ice cream last night!!! and your killing me with the ice cream posts lately!!! I REALLY GOTTA GET A ICE CREAM MAKER… it’s gonna go to 38c (100 f) here today so I am gonna be craving something cold. So you know the second I get my ice cream maker I am stealing this recipe!
June 27th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Green Tea Ice Cream. Beautifully done.
It’s 90 degrees in the shade here in middle Tennessee..that looks perfectly wonderful.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I just made my first Lebovitz recipe last weekend. It was the best vanilla ice cream I’ve ever made.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I could just eat a scoop of that ice cream now! really wonderful and mouthwatering! Here it is also very hot (86Β° F+)…
Cheers and have a nice weekend,
Rosa
June 27th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I am in love with TPS. As well as the pale green color of this lovely ice cream…I have that page in the book marked with a post-it to try, and now it’s moving up on the list. It’s going to be hot here in Ithaca this weekend, so I’m making the cherry-chocolate chunk ice cream from that book. Stay cool! :)
June 27th, 2008 at 7:55 am
It’s winter here in Sao Paulo now, but that looks so good I’d eat it in a heartbeat, cold, rain and all! :)
I don’t have an ice cream machine either, but I think I should get one in Summer. :)
June 27th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I love ice cream and love to cook, but have always stayed away from making my own! Can I do this without an ice cream maker? I think I’ve never purchased one because I’m afraid I would make and therefore eat too much!
June 27th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Mmm, green tea is my favorite ice cream flavor! It looks so tempting!
June 27th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Whoa. Those pics are LOVE. That pouring pic looks just like giant soft heaps of gelato that beckon me to stick my nose against the glass display. (er, no, I don’t really do that :) I haven’t been making ice creams lately, as I’ve been buying a lot of other stuff and held off expensive cream, plus there’s not a lot of space in the freezer. Sigh. We get ice by using ice trays, silly nilly! ;P
I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing in our much more “intolerable” heat– baking! I am THE man.
Oh man, you lost your ability to flush the toilets for a while– there’s new advantages to living in the lonely mountains, then! LOL
June 27th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I’ve been eyeballing matcha ice cream for a while, but I can’t make any until my mother ships my ice cream maker to me. Hopefully soon. I’m wary of making it with wooden spoons or hand mixers (I’ve heard of doing it that way); seems like a lot of work for only a possibly-workable product.
What matcha do you prefer?
June 27th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
This looks really tasty! I keep wanting to try green tea ice cream…
June 27th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Looks both classic and modern…and totally gorgeous.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Green Tea Icecream with a little azuki bean on top…oh yeah.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
My mix is chilling in the fridge now. Thanks for the inspiration. :)
June 28th, 2008 at 12:52 am
This looks delicious!
Green tea ice cream is one of my favourite parts of getting sushi!
June 28th, 2008 at 4:54 am
You are gradually becoming a gelato queen! I think an ice-cream machine will be a wise investment for being in a hot and humid country like Singapore. It’s gonna be on my list! Take lots of care, yea?
June 28th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Looks so smooth and creamy! I almost liked my screen to get a taste.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:08 am
i’m totally saving this recipe. i love matcha ice cream and i’m quite determined to get an ice cream maker some time soon. this will be the first thing i’ll make once i do get it! :)
cheers. x
June 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
that’s what i need right now to fight the florida heat!
June 28th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
That looks great, although we serve green tea at work, and I never could get used to it.
It’s not for me.
Hey! Judging DMBLGIT was fun, eh?
June 28th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
That green tea ice cream looks really good! I like the way the slightly bitter matcha mellows out the sweetness of the sugar in a green tea ice cream.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Mia – I DO love it! :) I haven’t tried his brownie recipe, but now that you’ve endorsed it, perhaps I will give it a go, thanks!
Peabody – I know, that’s sooooo strange! Sorry about the heat wave :(
Joanne – Jeremy is *crazy* about this ice cream. While I don’t eat much ice cream myself, I really love having an ice cream maker!
Woolly – I think you should definitely get an ice cream maker because I want to know about all of the booze-laden recipes you make ;)
Mary – 90 in the shade? Ugh, you poor thing. I grew up in Virginia and I remember days like that :(
Bridget – The Lebovitz rules :)
Rosa – thank you sweetie! I hope you had a good weekend too.
Amy – ice cream in Ithaca… good times! You most certainly have to try this recipe… frozen caffeine in a small liberal college town? a must!! :)
Patricia – yes, if you have an ice cream machine, you can get your caffeine fix in frozen form during summer, and it’s sooooo nice!
Kolby – I think it would be really difficult to make this without an ice cream maker. Here is some justification for getting an ice cream maker… you can make sorbets with it too – so something fruity and healthy to alternate with all of that fattening (but delicious) ice cream? :) hee hee
Hannah – thanks! If you were here, I’d have brought a pint over to you in exchange for one of those adorable crocheted critters :)
Mark – we use ice trays too :) I really like the ice cream in that soft stage, before it has set. It’s so soft and nice. I cannot believe you have been baking when it’s so hot and humid over there! Auggggggggh.
Kate – Yeah, I would totally wait until the ice cream maker arrives! I only have access to one kind of matcha, and it’s the one that my local Whole Foods (in Boulder) carries. I’m so lame, I can’t even tell you what kind it is :(
Mike – try it! You will love it!
Laura – thank you dear!
Nate – mmmm, that sounds good. Jeremy isn’t a fan of azuki, but I am!
Rainbowbrown – yay!!!
Brilynn – I would love green tea ice cream after sushi if I had room in my tummy… unfortunately, I stuff myself with too much sushi!
Mrs. E – yes, get ye an ice cream machine and start churning out *happiness*. That stuff can tame a wild tiger :) Thanks babe, I will indeed take lots of care (and lots of pics of food – hee hee).
Barbara – ha ha ha!
Diva – the matcha green tea ice cream is quite easy to make and soooo rewarding to eat! Good luck with it and I hope you have a blast with your ice cream maker.
Aran – Florida? Yes, very hot and humid. You have my sympathies, dear. I hope you can cool off soon.
Graeme – Green tea or green tea ice cream? Yeah, judging was fun… I think! ;) Were you the one who gave everyone zeroes? ha ha ha! ptttthhhhhhhh ;)
Kevin – yes, the flavors and textures are such a wonderful combo!
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
[…] Oven Fried Onion Rings and Well Done Hamburgers on A Charcoal Grill from Cook’s Illustrated David Lebovitz’s Green Tea Ice Cream as posted on Use Real Butter Shortuct Basil Aioli at Orangette Chocolate Butter Cake and Vanilla […]
July 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
That is such an interesting combination of flavours…thanks for sharing :-)
July 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Sunita – not at all! :)
September 5th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
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November 20th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Like your blog, congratulations!! But i do have a question regarding the green tea ice cream, can you do it if you don’t own an ice cream machine? Once i tried to do another ice cream and it came like an ice stone when I took it out of the freezer, it never achieved any creamy texture.
November 21st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Silvia – I’m not sure. Some recipes work just fine without an ice cream machine, but I think some require it in order to keep crystals from getting too big (it chills and stirs at the same time to achieve that). I think this recipe may be the same way as the one you tried.
July 2nd, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Great Goodness of YES and HELLS YEAH!!! How did I miss that you had made matcha green tea ice-cream!! I will be making this! Matcha green tea has got to be one of my favorite ice cream flavor…always just thought that it was concocted out of magic and fairy farts though! Didn’t know that making it was a possibility :)
September 13th, 2013 at 12:25 pm
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February 27th, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Hello, may I know how ml (millilitres) is 1 cup equals to? Thankyou..=D
April 16th, 2018 at 8:04 am
Yesterday my daughter made Taiwanese Minced Pork over rice for dinner. I made this for dessert. I was afraid that our grandchildren would not like the herby flavour, but I was wrong. They loved it. Even their Dad who is not a dessert kind of guy asked for a second spoonful. Will definitely make this again.