Living in Louisiana during the summer is like taking a hot dip in a lake of fire. You think the water will help but it only makes you hotter. As the sweat drips into your eyes, it starts to feel like your body is melting into the pavement. The only thing that I find keeps me cool in this Louisiana heat is a nice glass of sweet tea preferably with a few lemon ice cubes. If that’s not available this sweet tea ice cream comes in a close second.
This recipe is adapted from the Food Network No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream. It works as a great base if you are going the no-churn route. I will say that using an ice cream maker may yield better results. I will explain what I would do differently after the recipe.
Equipment: Koji Ice Cream 1.5qt container or a chilled metal loaf pan
In a large bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, vanilla, sweet tea, and salt. Taste to determine if you need more sweet tea. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream on medium-high speed until firm peaks form. Fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture with a rubber spatula until blended. Fold this mixture into the rest of the whipped cream until well blended.
Pour into the Koji ice cream container or chilled metal loaf pan. Freeze covered for 2-3 hours or until solid and scoopable.
Things I Would Do Differently:
More sweet tea! My ice cream came out with a nice, subtle sweet tea flavor but I wanted more. I was worried about it being too sweet so I held back a little.
My ice cream came out like a mix of an ice cream snowball. It was incredibly refreshing but it was not the intended outcome. I believe this was due to me adding more sweet tea after I had mixed all of the ingredients. It just didn’t have enough of a sweet tea flavor as I mentioned above.
Maybe use a different container. I like the Koji ice cream container because it comes with a lid and you don’t have to worry about what to use to cover the loaf pan. (Freezer paper would be my recommendation if you don’t have a lid for your pan.)
Use a chilled bowl for the whipped cream. It gets toasty in my kitchen due to the humidity so a chilled bowl would make sure my heavy cream stays as cold as possible.
All in all, this recipe is easy to make and refreshing for those hot summer days. I would even add in some lemon or use another tea that you enjoy. Let me know in the comments how your ice cream turns out or what other beverage options you would use for this no-churn ice cream.
Until next time,
xoxo~Christilisa