Chai Coconut Ice Cream

Chai Coconut Ice Cream

Well, friends, it’s been a rough week. I’ve lost my appetite and shed my weight in tears. Fortunately, a couple of dear friends are coming into town this weekend and their presence will surely lift my spirits. In the meantime, I thought I’d share this chai ice cream recipe that I’ve been tinkering with over the past month. I brought the latest batch over to girls night this week and the girls say it’s just right. As a frozen treat with warming spices, it seems like an appropriate dessert for this in-between weather.

Chai Coconut Ice Cream

Author: Cookie and Kate

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  5 mins

Total time:  25 mins

Serves: 6

Dairy-free, egg-free Chai ice cream made with coconut milk, honey and spices. It is perfectly scoopable from the freezer, but the texture is better if you let it rest at room temperature for five minutes before serving.

Ingredients

• 4 bags Assam black tea or regular black tea
• 2 cans full fat coconut milk
• 3/4 cup honey (use 2/3 cup for slightly less sweet ice cream)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• pinch fine grain sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon arrowroot powder whisked with a few tablespoons of the coconut milk mixture (optional, see note)

Instructions

1. In a liquid measuring cup, pour one cup boiling water over the tea bags. Let steep for 4 minutes, then remove the bags (squeeze out some of the water they have absorbed).
2. Shake up your cans of coconut milk before opening in case the coconut cream has separated from the coconut water. In a Dutch oven or a big, heavy-bottomed pot, whisk together the coconut milk, tea, honey, vanilla, spices and salt until thoroughly blended.
3. If you are NOT adding arrowroot powder, you can go ahead and chill the mixture (if the coconut milk cream is still solid, heat the mixture over medium heat for a few minutes while whisking). If you ARE incorporating arrowroot powder, heat the mixture over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk the arrowroot powder with a few tablespoons of the coconut milk mixture until thoroughly blended. Pour the arrowroot mixture into the warm coconut milk mixture and bring it to a gentle boil, stirring frequently for one minute. Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature, then place the bowl in the refrigerator until the mixture is completely and thoroughly chilled.
4. Place your ice cream container in the freezer so it will get cold and not melt the frozen ice cream once it’s ready. If you used arrowroot starch, whisk the thickened top layer into the rest of the mixture. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to your manufacturer’s instructions, then transfer it to your chilled container and freeze for several hours in the freezer (let it defrost for five minutes before serving). Or eat immediately for soft serve texture.

Notes

• Recipe created with guidance from Oh, Ladycakes and A Couple Cooks.
• To make this recipe vegan, substitute maple syrup or agave nectar for the honey (you may need to increase the amount of sweetener to taste—add more until the mixture is just a little too sweet, as it will taste less sweet once frozen).
• Arrowroot starch is a natural root starch that helps absorb the ice crystals. It’s optional here; you can also help the ice crystals go away if you let the ice cream sit for five minutes before serving.
• Yields approximately 1.5 quarts, which is about as much as my ice cream maker will hold.
• The girls added a few chocolate chips to their bowls of ice cream. I think finely chopped dark chocolate incorporated near the end of the freezing cycle would be a very good idea.