earl grey ice custard {recipe redux}

So, day three of the worst sore throat on record - no kidding - ask my doctor - and I have not been able to eat much of anything. Or do much of anything either, unless lying in bed all day is doing something, which I guess it is.

But ice cream... now that is something I can manage to get by my inflamed tonsils. And enjoy.

I wanted to make a vegan recipe but decided for my first attempt with an ice cream maker - borrowed from a friend - I'd do it the regular way. I can experiment with it later.

But then while reading the instructions for said ice cream maker I realized that the whole bowl needs to be in my freezer for 24 hours prior to making the ice cream. We happen to have just gone to Costco and our freezer is maxed out. So, I made it without the maker in small plastic ice cream cans. This way I could set them in the door of the freezer and they fit nicely. Took more work but came out pretty amazing!

This month's Recipe Redux challenge is Cooking with Tea.

Here is my rendition.

Earl Grey Ice Custard
Makes 1.5 to 2 pints, adapted from Gourmantine

Ingredients

• 250 ml (257.7g) whole milk
• 250 ml (257.7g) cream
• 2 teaspoons earl grey loose tea
• 4 egg yolks
• 100g white sugar

Instructions

1. Bring the cream and milk to simmer (don’t let it boil) add the tea and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
2. In the meanwhile beat the egg yolks with sugar till the mixture has almost doubled.
3. When the milk-cream mixture has infused, strain through a fine sieve and warm up again. Stir in a few ladles of warm milk to the yolks, one at a time and stirring vigorously (this is called tempering the yolk so they would not scramble). Add the rest of the milk and stirring all the time. 
4. Cook the custard over medium heat mixing all the time until thickens slightly and starts coating the back of the spoon. Don’t let it boil or the eggs may scramble.
5. Take of the heat and let it cool completely, spending a night in the fridge, if possible.
6. When ready either use the ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s  instructions or pour it all in a plastic container and place it in the freezer. Using a blender, fork or knife (that’s what I used) stir very thoroughly after 1.5 hours, then again after another hour and probably one more time as another hour passes. In case you’re freezer is very strong you may need to do this more often.