Peach Tea Ice Cream

Can I just put something out in the universe? Anyone who leaves a container of 4 dozen sandwich cookies open all night should be put in the stocks. 4 dozen. That's 8 dozen individual cookies that someone spent an entire day baking, and then woke the very next morning to find every single one gone stale.

Also, I should probably be put in italics-users anonymous.

And we know it wasn't me the baker that did it because I she closed the lid securely after putting the cookies in, and didn't touch it again until I she started sobbing in frustration over the open Tupperware this morning.

I'm pretty sure I know who did it, because his only defense was, "It was already open when I went in." I don't care that it was already open. I care that it wasn't closed.

Seriously, someone keep me away from the italics button. I can't stop.

I was very proud of those cookies, too. They were roll-out cookies and everything. You know how much I hate roll out cookies. I used a cutter and made them cute, and I was going to bring them into work and give them out. I can't give people stale cookies. Nuh-uh. Well, I brought some for G, but I can explain to her what happened, and her son and boyfriend will probably still gobble them down.

So I made myself ice cream (yeah, yeah, I gave up the pretense. I spent all Sunday making cookies, and I woke to stale cookies Monday morning. And I was ready to either murder someone or burst into tears). And it's ice cream that only I like so I don't have to worry about anyone else leaving the lid off or leaving it on the counter to melt or eating it all up even when I tell them not to (like with my Oreos that I specifically said, "Do not open these. I am using them for something.").

No. This, this is my ice cream. It tastes like tea and peaches. But like, cold and creamy and decadent tea and peaches.

The original inspiration for this was Peach Snapple, because Peach Snapple is my liquid crack. I'm even more addicted to it than to italics. I drink it almost everyday.

My original thought was to add some instant tea that I had leftover from making drink mixes to an ice cream base, along with some syrup from canned peaches. But when I had everything prepped and went to grab the instant tea, it had all clumped together in the middle, in a surprisingly uniform shape. Yeah, no.

So I went with real tea. And the ice cream, it tastes like real tea. The peach flavor is subtle, but there. It's not really sweet, which is the way I take my tea. I prefer the sugar to enhance the tea flavors, not cover them. (Yes, I am a snooty tea lady. Got a problem with that?)

It tastes like the sort of thing that you eat in a sunny little conservatory, sitting at a wrought iron bistro table, covered in a lace tablecloth. And there are pretty little tea cakes, and ladies in fancy clothes, sipping their tea with their pinkies up, and chatting about fancy things. And cucumber sandwiches.

And meanwhile you're just like, "Omnomnom, ICE CREAM!!!"

I said the ladies were fancy. I didn't say you were.

This is definitely an ice cream for tea lovers only. All others need not apply. And you know, it's tea, so you totally have my permission to eat it for breakfast. Just remember to put the lid back on.


Peach Tea Ice Cream {Printable Version}

Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup half and half
3 black tea bags (I used English Breakfast)
1 green tea bag
½- ¾ cup sugar*
6 tbsp. syrup from canned peaches
3 egg yolks
½ cup peach chunks

Directions
In a saucepan, heat the cream and half and half over low heat until it just begins to steam. Add the tea bags, remove from heat, and allow to steep about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and peach syrup.

Strain out the tea bags** and return the cream to medium low heat, until it just begins to simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add the cream to the eggs about 1 ladleful at a time, whisking constantly. When all the cream has been added, return the entire mixture to the saucepan, and heat over low, stirring constantly, until it reaches 160°F on a food-grade thermometer. Do not let it boil.

Cover and refrigerate until fully chilled, about 3 hours or overnight. Add to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is a few minutes from being done, add the peach chunks. Freeze completely in an air-tight container

*I liked it with ½ cup sugar, but others found it to be not sweet enough

**I left the tea bags in the cream until it came time to temper the eggs. This results in a stronger tea flavor; however the second heating can make it bitter

Recipe by Kim