Extra Strong Matcha Ice Cream Recipe

My extra strong matcha ice cream recipe is perfect if, like me, you've just come back from Japan and you're missing real matcha ice cream.

We used to be able to buy strong matcha ice cream in the UK in tubs, but the only one now available to me is as weak as a green teabag briefly dunked in warm water, and the other that's available online is also not strong enough any more – and they're both pricey

I'm not as salty about matcha tea ice cream being pricey, because matcha is, itself, expensive. But I'm not about to pay through the nose for barely any. So I decided to make strong matcha ice cream at home.

I've made a no churn matcha ice cream recipe before, but I managed to get an actual ice cream machine on the cheap during Black Friday. So this a proper but still easy matcha ice cream recipe with an egg yolk custard base.

I cheated a bit using a little cornflour to help stabilise the custard. Usually ice cream bases are thickened only with egg yolks. But I find the addition of a smidge of cornflour makes it even easier to avoid scrambled egg yolks, and also thickens the mixture a tad more too for a more luscious texture.

You can also watch me make this on my YouTube channel, Tashcakes:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients:

150ml double cream
200ml full fat milk
20g matcha
3 egg yolks
1/3 tsp cornflour
75g caster sugar

Method:

1. Add the cream, milk and matcha to a large bowl or tall container, and use a hand blender to whizz them all together until well combined and smooth. If you don't have a hand blender, put the matcha in the bowl first, then very gradually whisk in the liquids, making sure there are no lumps.

2. In another large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, flour and sugar together until smooth.

3. Pour the matcha cream into a saucepan, and heat while stirring continuously with a balloon whisk until steaming and just starting to simmer. Pour half into the egg yolk mixture, whisking the yolks continuously.

4. Pour the egg yolk cream mixture back into the pan with the rest of the matcha cream, and stir continuously on a medium heat until the mixture has thickened and coats your balloon whisk.

5. Pour into a bowl that's sitting in a bigger bowl full of ice, and stir every so often so it doesn't form a skin, until the mixture is completely cool. While you're waiting for it to cool, pop a container you'd like to store your ice cream in in the freezer to chill.

6. Pour into your ice cream maker (make sure you've pre-frozen the inner bowl if it isn't an 'automatic freeze' machine), and churn according to machine instructions.

7. Scoop the ice cream into your pre-chilled container and freeze for a further hour to make it more solid and scoop-able. If you freeze it for longer, you can take the container out for a couple of minutes to let the solid ice cream soften.

Enjoy, and have fun.