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Chai Latte Ice Cream

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I’ve been wanting to make a Chai Latte ice cream for ages. As most of you know we make a LOT of ice cream at home for our new business but sometimes I still like to experiment with small batches at home for us to enjoy. This is certainly one of the ones we have enjoyed the most in a long time. It’s insanely creamy and packed full of spicy flavours.

Chai latte ice cream

It would be perfect served alongside a slice of apple or pumpkin pie this autumn.

You need to allow about 24 hours to make this ice cream before you want to eat it for the maximum taste explosion.

Chai Latte Ice Cream

You will need:

5 large free range egg yolks
420ml Double Cream
180ml Semi Skimmed Milk
100g Sugar
A pinch of salt
5 good quality Chai Tea bags
4 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise

Whisk half of your sugar into your egg yolks in a small bowl, cover and set aside.

Toast your spices (cardamom, cinnamon and star anise) lightly in a large pan to release their aroma and flavour for a few minutes, then add the remaining sugar, milk, cream, teabags and salt. Bring to a slow simmer and then remove from heat, cover and allow to steep for about 45 minutes.

Uncover and return to a medium/high heat. Uncover your eggs and sugar mixture. When it reaches a simmer scoop some the liquid ( about 1/2 a small cup) and pour slowly into the eggs/sugar and whisk quickly, repeat 3 times before pouring all of the egg/sugar mix into the pan and stirring continuously with a spatula. Keep stirring over the heat until the mixture thickened – this should take no more than 3-5 minutes.

Now pour the mixture through a sieve into a clean container, squeeze as much liquid as possible from the teabags before discarding. Allow to cool before placing in the fridge for minimum of 6 hours ( preferably overnight ) then churn using an ice cream machine and freeze until ready to use.

Cinnamon Cardamon ice cream

* Note if you are trying to take a hundred photos of your ice cream and your camera breaks so you have to use your phone, your ice cream will melt a lot while you do so!

This is such an indulgent dessert. You could serve sprinkled with cinnamon and a cinnamon stick poking out the top like I did or perhaps a little brown sugar.

Why not try these other Chai recipes?

Chai Courgette Muffins
Pumpkin Tarts With Chai
Chocolate Chai Marsala Cakes
Chai Concentrate

Apple Puff Parcels

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Last week I bought some really cheap apples thinking how bad could they be hey? It turns out pretty bad. I became a bit of an apple snob during pregnancy as I craved a particular crunch and taste .. I’m not so bad now but these just didn’t taste good. However I hate waste so yesterday I tried to think of an easy way I could use them up and ended up with these totally amazingly scrumptious apple parcels or mini puff pastry pies. So easy to make but the flavour is fantastic and a really quick and easy dessert option for people who don’t usually bake.

You will need:

A sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
2-3 apples chopped fairly small but any shape
1 tablespoon of lemon juice ( I used Jif lemon )
50grams of light brown sugar ( I used Whitworths)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1teaspoon of nutmeg
*Optional – zest of an orange or clementine and a handful of raisins/sultanas
1 beaten egg

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4. Mix your apple in a bowl with lemon, sugar,cinnamon and nutmeg.

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Cut your pastry into an equal amount of squares. On half of the squares place a spoonful of the apple mixture in the middle then brush some egg around the rim of the square and place another square on top, press to seal with a fork around the edge and pierce the top of the parcel. Repeat until all squares are used up then brush each parcel with the egg and bake on a tray until golden brown (approx 20 mins). Dust with icing sugar.

Serve while warm (although be careful contents will be incredibly hot initially) with a dollop of thick cream. Totally delicious. You could use a cookie cutter to make different shared parcels. I did a second batch which were circular.

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