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RECIPE FOR A BLACK TEA ICE CREAM:

I have been wanting to try to mimic an ice cream that was brought to me by Youngest. I believe the name of it was something like English Rose Black Tea? It was beautiful. When you opened the pint, there were bright pink crushed rose petals and tiny bits of crushed tea leaf on top. There were a few leaves scattered throughout the pint and it had nuts in it as well.

I had three rose black teas on hand and I thought this was the most likely candidate for making ice cream. The tea needed to have lots of rose flavor and also needed a hearty base to stand up to the sweetness and the rich creamy dairy base.

I added five generous teaspoons of this tea to one cup of hot milk and let it simmer on the stove for five minutes. I strained it and added 3/4 cup sugar, a tablespoon of homemade vanilla extract, a tiny pinch of salt, and two cups of half and half and whisked. (We prefer lower fat. Also, when making our vanilla ice cream and root beer floats, the lower fat ice cream seems to have a better texture than high fat.) That chilled in the fridge while I taught afternoon lessons and then I put it in the Cuisinart ice cream maker. We got the cheap one on an outrageous Christmas one day only doorbuster sale and it has lasted over a decade, so I am very pleased with it.

I added chopped pecans on top when I served it. I had forgotten there were nuts in the ice cream I was trying to replicate, so next time (and there WILL be a next time) I will stir them in prior to putting it in the freezer to set.

It was sooooo good. Ashman loved it, too. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have some light, thin cookies to serve with it. I think lemon cookies would be perfect with it.

There was a ton of rose flavor, so I am glad I went with my instincts and did not add additional rose water, and the black tea flavor was well balanced, also.