Chai Tea Ice Cream – Perfect for Summer

Chai Tea Ice Cream takes advantage of coconut cream for its fat content, making it super easy to make without having to turn on the cooktop. While we used Masala Chai Tea for this recipe, it can be replaced with other teas that play well with coconut. So feel free to play with the tea you use in this recipe until you find one you enjoy. Humans are not very good at tasting flavors when eating cold foods, so the focus is intensifying the tea flavor while balancing the fat and sugar content of the ice cream so it can come out smooth.

Chai Tea Ice Cream

3 Tablespoons of Masala Chai Tea (Feel free to substitute your favorite tea)

8 oz of water

1 package of Silken Tofu (Silken is critical for this recipe, if you use firm or extra firm you will get lumpy ice cream)

1/2 cup of coconut cream*

1/2 cup of brown rice syrup**

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

*  You can find canned coconut cream in the Asian section of your grocery store. If they do not carry the coconut cream, get a can of coconut milk (skip the low fat version) and put it in the refrigerator over night. The cream will rise to the top of the can of coconut milk, allowing you to scoop it out. It is also recommended that you put the can of coconut cream in the refrigerator overnight as well to cool the contents and harden the fat. You will not use the entire can in this recipe but any thing left over can be used in all sorts of other recipes or drunk straight if you like coconut milk.

** Since this is a no-cook recipe, the sugar content needs to be in liquid form. I prefer the brown rice syrup over corn syrup, but you can use corn syrup or agave nectar here as a replacement.

Start by heating up your water to make the tea concentrate. Since we are using black tea here, we need to get the water to a boil, if you opt for another type of tea just follow the proper brewing instructions as if you were making a cup to drink. While the water heats up, take out your blender and put in the tofu, coconut cream, brown rice syrup and vanilla extract. Return to your boiling water and add the tea and allow to steep for 5 minutes. At the end of the 5 minutes, strain out the tea leaves and pour the tea concentrate into the blender. Next, run the blender until everything is blended together and smooth. You may need to stop the blender and scrap the sides to get all the brown rice syrup to properly mix in. Once the mixture is smooth, you will need to refrigerate it for at least 4 hours to get the temperature to drop enough for it to work properly in an ice cream machine. Once the mixture has cooled, follow the instructions on your ice cream machine and pour in the mixture and allow it to churn for the appropriate amount of time. It will come out with a soft serve consistence but will harden in the freezer. You will want to allow the ice cream to thaw for about 10 minutes to allow you to serve it easily.