This recipe combines the best of two fresh mint ice cream recipes I found (one from the NPR site—and one that I just realized was a Chowhound post) and adds lavender. Talk about two great tastes that taste great together!
It tastes very much like a hot drink I enjoyed immensely at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf while on vacation in California. At the time, they made a lavender mint green tea and combined it with their French Deluxe Vanilla powder.
- Yield: 1 quart
- Difficulty: Easy
- Total: About an hour
- Active: 30 minutes
Ingredients (8)
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
- 2 tablespoons fresh lavender (or 1 tablespoon dried lavender)
- 1 ½ cups milk (I used 1 % Simply Smart)
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 2/3 cup sugar, divided (1/3 cup for milk mixture; 1/3 cup for egg yolks)
- 5 egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon coarse salt
- ½ teaspoon Penzey’s Double-Strength Vanilla
Instructions
- Heat cream, milk, mint, lavender, vanilla and 1/3 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer.
- Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 25-30 minutes.
- Whisk egg yolks, salt and 1/3 cup of sugar in a medium bowl.
- Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain milk mixture into separate bowl.
- Temper hot milk mixture into egg yolks gradually, whisking vigorously to prevent yolks from curdling.
- Return combined mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. You can use a thermometer to confirm the temperature has reached 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Strain into a clean bowl and cool over an ice water bath. Chill in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Process according to your ice cream machine’s instructions.
