This Chai Tea Ice Cream is made with my absolute favourite tea: Bengal Spice Tea by Celestial Seasonings and is sweetened with honey. Bengal Spice is completely delicious and has been a favourite of mine for a decade.
Rich with the flavours of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, black pepper and vanilla, Bengal Spice tea is caffeine-free and lightly sweetened with carob.
In my opinion, this is the most perfect fall tea and I drink it faithfully in the colder months. Bengal Spice is warming, spicy, full-bodied and slightly sweet.
I wanted to capture the essence of this cozy drink in a bite of healthy homemade ice cream. You can’t go wrong blending the worlds of tea and ice cream.
I found a Cuisinart ice cream maker at a garage sale (still in the box!) around 5 years ago for only $5 and that started my journey of making homemade ice cream.
I have tried many flavours. Some of my favourites have been Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, Apple Crisp Ice Cream (I steep cinnamon sticks in the cream and drop real bits of leftover crisp into the ice cream as it churns) and Coffee Ice Cream (of course!).
Making homemade ice cream is so satisfying and feels like a real achievement. I also love knowing every single ingredient that went into my ice cream. Store-bought ice cream can have a lot of stabilizers, preservatives and other questionable additives.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bengal Spice Tea
What Makes Bengal Spice Tea Sweet?
Bengal Spice Tea is lightly sweetened with roasted carob. The level of sweetness is very subtle.
What is Carob?
Carob comes from pods from the carob tree. It is naturally sweet, caffeine-free, and used as a healthy substitute for chocolate. Some people substitute carob chips for chocolate chips in their baked goods. Could be worth a try!
Is Bengal Spice Tea Caffeine Free?
Yes, Bengal Spice tea is caffeine-free. It’s Celestial Seasonings caffeine-free interpretation of Chai tea.
Learn How to Make Chai Tea Homemade Ice Cream
- Using a heavy bottomed saucepan such as a Dutch oven, gently warm the milk, cream and honey over medium-low heat.
- Stir until honey is all melted. Add 3 tea bags of Bengal Spice Tea or your favourite brand of Chai tea. Remove from heat and allow the tea bags to steep in the cream mixture. Taste occasionally and remove the tea bags when your base has reached the desired level of flavour.
- Whisk the egg yolks separately in a small bowl. Very gradually, begin to whisk ½ cup of the warm (not hot) milk and cream mixture into the egg yolks to bring them up to temperature. (It’s important to do this step very slowly to ensure you don’t accidentally cook the egg yolks.)
- Pour the tempered yolk mixture into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually for about 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens enough that it coats the back of a spoon.
- Pour the custard through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any lumps.
- Place the bowl in the fridge to cool for several hours or place the bowl over an ice bath and stir until the custard is cold. You want to ensure the custard is cold before pouring it into the ice cream machine.
- Pour the cold custard into the ice cream maker and churn the ice cream for 10-20 minutes until it resembles soft serve ice cream.
- Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours.
Tips for Making Chai Tea Ice Cream
- Purchase heavy cream that contains simple ingredients like cream and milk. Some store bought creams have unnecessary extra ingredients like stabilizers or thickeners.
- Ensure the freezer drum component of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for a minimum of 24 hours. This step is crucial for a silky ice cream consistency. Ice cream will be icy if not properly churned.
- As you steep the tea bags in the mixture of cream, milk and honey be sure to taste occasionally so you know when your base has reached your desired level of flavour. I find this takes between 5-10 minutes.
- I love sweetening ice cream with honey not only for its nutritional benefits over white sugar, but also because honey provides a creamier texture to the ice cream and pairs beautifully with chai flavours. I recommend a good quality local honey.
- You will need to separate the egg yolks from egg whites for this recipe. If you don’t want those egg whites to go to waste you should try my Sugar Free Granola Recipe. It uses egg whites to bind the ingredients together.
- In my opinion, the most difficult step of making ice cream is tempering the egg yolks before incorporating them into the warm cream mixture. Do this step really slowly to guarantee success.
- I recommend straining the custard before pouring it into the ice cream machine. This step filters out any bits of cooked egg yolk that may disrupt the texture of the creamy ice cream.
- How do I know I’ve churned my ice cream for long enough? It will look like soft serve ice cream and this takes about 15 minutes.
- Take your ice cream out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving to make scooping easier.
More Recipes to Enjoy Around the Table
Tahini Hot Chocolate is a thick, comforting hot drink with a truly underrated flavour combination: tahini and chocolate. Tahini is a unique flavour that’s often used like peanut butter and has a bitter taste similar to chocolate so it works well in balance with the sweet ingredients.
This High Protein Granola recipe is completely sugar-free, held together with whipped egg whites and deliciously spiced with ginger and cinnamon.
These Coconut Flour Oatmeal Cookies are soft and chewy with a great melt-in-your-mouth texture from the coconut flour. They are gluten-free and naturally sweetened with only maple syrup and chocolate chips!
Save Chai Tea Ice Cream to Pinterest
Chai Tea Ice Cream {Bengal Spice Tea} Recipe
Bengal Spice Tea Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup heavy cream, 36%
- ⅓ cup raw honey
- 5 large egg yolks
- 3 tea bags Bengal Spice Tea or your favourite brand of chai tea
- small pinch of salt
Instructions
- Ensure the freezer drum component of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for a minimum of 24 hours.
- Using a heavy bottomed saucepan such as a Dutch oven, gently warm the milk, cream and honey over medium-low heat.
- Stir until honey is all melted. Add 3 tea bags of Bengal Spice Tea or your favourite brand of Chai tea. Remove from heat and allow the tea bags to steep in the cream mixture. Taste occasionally and remove the tea bags when your base has reached the desired level of flavour.
- Whisk the egg yolks separately in a small bowl. Very gradually, begin to whisk ½ cup of the warm (not hot) milk and cream mixture into the egg yolks to bring them up to temperature. (It’s important to do this step very slowly to ensure you don’t accidentally cook the egg yolks.)
- Pour the tempered yolk mixture into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually for about 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens enough that it coats the back of a spoon.
- Pour the custard through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any lumps.
- Place the bowl in the fridge to cool for several hours or place the bowl over an ice bath and stir until the custard is cold. You want to ensure the custard is cold before pouring it into the ice cream machine.
- Pour the cold custard into the ice cream maker and churn the ice cream for 10-20 minutes until it resembles soft serve ice cream.
- Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours.
- When ready to serve, take the ice cream out of the freezer 10 minutes prior to serving to make scooping easier. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
If you make this ice cream recipe please leave a comment and give this recipe a rating! I aim to respond to every single comment. I am so grateful when you trust me and try one of my recipe creations in your own kitchen. I love to hear how it went! Let’s connect on Instagram and tag me in your food pics!
‘Til next time,
Christy
Leave a Reply