My Kitchenaid mixer and the ice cream attachment are probably two of the hardest working tools in the kitchen today. Ever since I purchased the attachment a few months ago, it’s been working pretty much non-stop all summer long. I’ve made several batches of chocolate ice cream and frozen yogurt for my cacao-loving sister, and I have made strawberry ice cream, frozen yogurt and kefir when I came across good deals on fresh strawberries. My favorite ice cream flavor, so far, is the lavender and honey kind, and there are so many other flavors that I would love to try before summer ends.

While enjoying a hot cup of orange pekoe tea with honey the other day, I thought of a wonderful idea of turning this aromatic tea into ice cream! I’ve seen many delicious recipes for Earl Grey tea ice cream so I knew that I couldn’t go wrong with this combination!

Here is the recipe and instruction for my version of Orange Pekoe Tea Ice Cream. This recipe was inspired by ymmy Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream by Mac and Cheese and I made some changes such as substituting sugar with honey and agave nectar and heavy cream with regular milk. I also added extra cup of milk because I found that it was a little too sweet without the extra liquid. I really like the way the ice cream turned out. It definitely had the rich and robust black tea flavor and the sweetness of honey brought out the subtle vanilla flavor perfectly.  If you are a black tea lover, you will definitely enjoy this ice cream. 🙂

Orange Pekoe Tea Ice Cream
Makes about one pint

Ingredients
5 bags Orange Pekoe tea (I used the ones from Twining’s)
4 cups regular milk
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
5 egg folks

Instruction
Warm the milk, honey, agave nectar, vanilla extra, and a pinch of salt together in a saucepan, in a medium low heat. Be careful not to let the liquid boil. Once the liquid is heated, remove it from the heat and steep the tea bags, for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, reheat the milk mixture in a medium low heat. By this time, the liquid should have a light brown hue.  Discard the used tea bags.

In the meantime, fix the egg folks in a separate bowl (I used the measuring cup that I used to measure out the ingredients). Slowly pour a small amount of heated milk into the eggs and mix well. Make sure to pour the hot liquid slowly and mix quickly, to avoid making scrambled eggs!

Return the egg and milk mixture to the heated saucepan and mix quickly and constantly, until the eggs cook completely and the mixture thickens into a custard-like consistency. Cool the mixture in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, overnight, or at least 5 hours. If you see any lumps forming, simply put the mixture in an electric mixer and blend for 10-20 seconds. Once the custard is completely cooled, put it in the ice cream mixer and follow the manufacture’s instruction.