A Japanese ramekin heaped with a couple of scoops of matcha ice cream is the perfect dessert after a sushi dinner.

A few years ago after a lovely meal at a Japanese restaurant in San Francisco, I enjoyed a scoop of creamy green tea ice cream. Inspired by that memory and an abundance of matcha tea powder in our pantry, I attempted to recreate that delicious dessert. The intense flavor of the matcha powder gave this ice cream a rich, complex flavor. Keeping with Japanese preferences, this recipe calls for only about half the sugar American palettes might prefer, but is still satisfyingly sweet.

Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp matcha green tea powder
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Directions

1. Heat cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add vanilla paste and green tea powder and heat until mixture almost boils, about 5 – 8 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to low.
4. Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar until the mixture is light yellow and smooth.
5. Add 4 tbsp on hot cream mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined. This will temper the eggs.
6. Slowly add warmed yolk mixture to warm cream. Stir continuously in order to not cook/curdle eggs.
7. Cook entire mixture over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon.
8.  Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
9. Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes.
10. Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

If you liked this post, you might like to read about matcha green tea cookies.