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Earl Grey And Lavender Ice-Cream

By Sophie Dahl

Earl Grey works beautifully with lavender. You can also make a wonderful iced tea using Earl Grey, lavender and a sugar syrup, steeping and leaving in the fridge to cool.

Photography by Jan Baldwin
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  • Serves: 4
  • Preparation time: 15 minutes
  • Cooking time: 10 minutes plus four hours chilling

Ingredients

  • Muslin bag and string, for a bouquet garni
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped lavender leaves
  • 4 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 125g of caster/superfine sugar
  • 500ml of double/heavy cream
  • 500ml of milk

Method

  1. First make your bouquet garni by tying the lavender and Earl Grey tea leaves into the muslin bag. Make sure the string is tightly knotted. Put to one side.
  2. In a mixing bowl, cream the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy and keep to one side.
  3. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the cream, milk and bouquet garni of lavender and tea leaves up until boiling point, and then remove from the stove.
  4. Temper the egg and sugar mixture by slowly adding the infused cream to bring the egg up to the same temperature, whisking all the time. Strain the mixture and then allow it to cool.
  5. Churn in your ice-cream maker as per the instructions. If you do not have an ice-cream maker, freeze the mixture in a plastic container for two hours. Remove from the freezer, pour into a blender and whiz for a minute or two. Pour back into the container. Freeze for another two hours, then serve.