Vanilla Chaiscream (Homemade Vanilla Chai Ice Cream)
I’m pretty sure when the psalmist wrote, “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord,” it was right after he ate a bowl of Vanilla Chaiscream (Homemade Vanilla Chai Ice Cream).
Vanilla Chaiscream is HEAVENLY. And, it’s the perfect solution for anyone who lives in places where it’s still like 100 degrees by the time fall comes around (howdy, fellow Texans!). We can have a delicious fall-flavored food without breaking a sweat!
I made this ice cream a few times to make sure I got my recipe exactly where I wanted it before I shared it. I’m super excited to finally make its debut!
The flavor is inspired by something Aaron and I created when we’d visit the cafeteria in college. We’d make up some hot chai tea, pour in a bit of milk, and then pour that into a big cup of frozen vanilla yogurt. We each stirred up our concoctions and enjoyed a divine, homemade taste of heaven! We called it “chaiscream,” and the rest is history!
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Fast forward several years, and after making seemingly millions of batches of ice cream with our ice cream maker as a married couple (best wedding gift ever), we both realized we could revisit our college days and recreate a rendition of our ice cream. I used my Granny’s homemade vanilla ice cream recipe as the base for this, and my oh my. It is GOOD. Wanna make some with us?!
There’s nothing special about the brand of chai tea you use – we just use chai tea bags from our favorite grocery store. You need 5 of them.
After you simmer milk and cream together on the stove, you steep the tea bags in it for 4 minutes.
While the tea bags are steeping, you can whip together the egg yolks and sugar.
You’ll beat them together until the mixture is creamy – about 30 seconds to a minute.
Once you’ve finished steeping the tea bags, stir the liquid a bit…
And then you’ll start tempering the eggs by gradually adding in the hot liquid to the eggs/sugar mixture. You’ll just pour in 1/3 of a cup of the hot mixture to the eggs at a time, beating between each addition. I’m not one to follow directions in recipes very well – I like doing my own thing – but this part is CRUCIAL.
If you don’t temper the eggs, they’ll cook too quickly and you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. And as much as I love scrambled eggs, I like mine with cheese on top, not with ice cream. 🙂
My kitchen helpers! (Elizabeth was wearing a flower girl dress from my cousins’ wedding at the beginning of the summer. I promised her AFTER the wedding she could wear “the princess dress” any time she wanted, and she’s held me to that.)
After you’ve mixed the hot liquid with the eggs & sugar, you’ll pour everything back into the pot and cook a while longer over medium heat, continuously stirring the mixture on the stove top. You’ll do this for a few minutes – until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Here’s how you can tell when it’s done:
Pick the spoon up and then run a spatula across the back.
If the spatula draws a line straight across the back without the mixture dripping, it’s finished!
Then you’ll want to pour the mixture from one pot to another through a strainer. The first time we made this ice cream, we noticed little waxy pieces in it after we made it. They didn’t bother Aaron, but I did NOT like them – they made for a strange texture. We make ice cream all the time, but I’ve never had that issue before! We rarely make ice cream using eggs, so I think that was part of the problem. I found out running the mixture through the strainer solved that problem.
See all those waxy bits that the strainer caught? Problem solved!
Pour the liquid into the mixing bowl, allow it to cool down, and then cover with cling wrap. Press the cling wrap all the way to the liquid – it’ll help prevent a film from forming on top while it chills in the fridge.
Place in the fridge for about 4 hours (or overnight) until it’s completely chilled, and then pour it into your ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, let me just tell you right now, you’re missing out on one of the greatest joys of life.
I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t tell you to do so.
Churn it for about 20-25 minutes or until the mixture is thick and creamy.
You can eat it right away, but if you want it a little firmer, pour it into a container and freeze it for a couple of hours before eating it.
Don’t forget to lick the ice cream maker bowl. This is probably one of the most important steps of the entire recipe.
After you prepare the ice cream, scoop it into bowls and enjoy!
Absolutely delicious!
It’s like a frozen chai tea latte.
I don’t know what ice cream recipe we’re going to try out next, but it’s going to have to be a good one to match up to chaiscream!
Ingredients
- 3 c whole milk
- 3 c heavy cream
- 5 chai tea bags
- 1 c sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp vanilla
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, bring milk and cream to a simmer.
- Once liquid is lightly simmering, place chai tea bags in milk/cream to steep for 4 minutes.
- After 4 minutes, use a spoon to squeeze out liquid from tea bags (I do this by pressing them against the side of the saucepan with a large wooden spoon) and remove bags from saucepan. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together for about 30 seconds-1 minute or until they form a creamy texture. While continuing to beat egg yolks and sugar, add in 1/3 c hot milk/tea mixture and beat for 30 seconds. Add in 1/3 c more of the hot milk mixture and continue to beat for 30 more seconds. Do this twice more – adding an additional 1/3 c hot milk mixture and beating for 30 seconds. Then, slowly pour remaining milk mixture into mixing bowl, beat for another minute or so until sugar is fully dissolved.
- Stir in vanilla to the milk mixture.
- Pour liquid ice cream from mixing bowl back into the saucepan and place back on stove top over medium heat. Stirring constantly for a few minutes, thicken up the mixture until it coats the back of the spoon. (Dip a spoon into the liquid, pick it up, run a spatula across the back of it, and if you're able to make a line without the mixture dripping, it's ready! See photos in the recipe to see what I mean.)
- Then, carefully pour the mixture into another saucepan or glass bowl through a strainer. Do this over the sink in case you spill. You'll want to do this to have the strainer catch the little bit of waxy residue that formed while making the ice cream.
- Pour liquid into the mixing bowl, allow it to cool down a bit, and then cover it with cling wrap. Make sure the cling wrap sits directly on top of the liquid. This will help keep the liquid from forming a film on top.
- Place mixing bowl in fridge for at least 3-4 hours (until fully chilled), or, even better, overnight. After milk mixture is completely chilled, remove cling wrap, scrape off any ice cream that's sticking to the cling wrap into the mixing bowl, whisk the mixture for about 10-20 seconds, and then pour it into your ice cream maker and churn for 25 minutes (ice cream should be a soft, creamy consistency).
- You can eat the ice cream immediately, but if you want it firmer, pour the ice cream into a large plastic container and place in the freezer for a couple of hours before scooping out and serving.
- Enjoy!