Green Tea Ice Cream
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As you know by now, I love ice cream. <3
(After all, I've raved over strawberry ice cream, mango cranberry sherbet, and the scrumptious chai ice cream I especially like in winter here on the site, and I've got a Pinterest board dedicated to nothing but nourishing, scrumptious ice creams. Be sure to follow it if you love ice cream as much as I do!)
But one of my all-time favorites is green tea ice cream. It's slightly bitter (in a good way) from the matcha, but it's also creamy and sweet. Ever since I first had it at the end of a decadent sushi dinner more than a decade ago, it's been at the top of my favorites list. To my delight, my eight-year-old daughter also loves it, so it's one of the most requested ice creams in our home. 🙂
The health benefits of matcha
Matcha or green tea powder is NOT the same as the green tea that you drink at home or Japanese restaurants, so no, you can’t grind regular green tea to make matcha. It is made from shade-grown tea leaves using the entire leaf and even in Japan is considered a special ingredient reserved for Japanese tea ceremonies and confections.
Matcha also is a concentrated super-version of green tea. Whatever you've heard about green tea's beneficial antioxidant properties, you can multiply that by 137 times for matcha! (source)
It's also known for increasing thermogenesis (the body’s own rate of burning calories), it's high in blood-cleansing detoxifying compounds, and it contains L-theanine, an amino acid that helps to relieve stress.
And mostly, it just tastes good. Like addictive good, in the best way possible.
An important note about eating raw eggs
As for the raw eggs yolks, I've written several times before about why I favor raw egg yolks in ice cream, which you can read about here and here, as well as in my book, but let me be upfront once again about one very important matter:
Conventional, store-bought eggs absolutely should not be consumed raw, especially if you are pregnant or dealing with illness. If you are going to consume raw eggs, be sure to use only very fresh eggs from chickens that were raised on pasture, as this makes a vast difference both in nutrition and in safety.
If you are uncomfortable eating raw egg yolks or don’t have access to farm fresh eggs, feel free to skip the egg yolks altogether. You may absolutely make this without them – the cream mixture is delectable even on its own.
But now it's time to churn! Enjoy! Green tea ice cream is a scrumptious treat. 🙂
Green Tea Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons matcha green tea powder, find [organic, fairly-grown matcha here]
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1/16 th teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Freeze your ice cream churn insert if necessary. Mine takes a full 24 hours to freeze fully. If you don’t have an electric ice cream maker, you can certainly make this green tea ice cream in a ball that you roll around the yard or an old-fashioned hand crank ice cream maker.
- Whisk the egg yolks briefly in a large bowl until smooth. Add the matcha powder and whisk again until there are no clumps. Add in the salt and the maple syrup and whisk again. Add the cream and milk. Whisk again until smooth.
- Pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and process according to its instructions. In my electric machine, it takes about 30 minutes to become soft serve.
- Serve as soft serve or scrape into a freezer container and freeze for at least three hours to firm up.
- Store in the freezer for up to one week.
Notes
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