Matcha White Chocolate Ice Cream

Of course, one can’t have sushi without having green tea ice cream for dessert. :) Instead of turning to the one recipe that I know and love, I decided to try a new recipe that I saw from Steamy Kitchen blog as well which pairs white chocolate and green tea. This combination excited and intrigued both Keith and I and we couldn’t wait to give it a taste.

OK, the conclusion – white chocolate and green tea do make a great-tasting combination but I have two complaints with this dessert. The first is the sweetness factor – it is SUPER sweet, and the second is that the ice cream would not firm up properly in the freezer, making it almost impossible to scoop out with an ice cream scoop (note how the ice cream is not really holding its shape in the picture above – it was like that straight from the freezer). At first I thought there was something wrong with the freezer, but according to the thermometer, it was operating just fine. Then I read in my old faithful reference book – “The Professional Pastry Chef”, I quote “While a relatively high proportion of sugar can be beneficial in keeping an ice cream smooth and pliable after freezing, too much sugar can prevent the ice cream from becoming firm enough to use.” I wonder if that is the case here. Either way, the ice cream is way too sweet for my taste and I think the next time I make this recipe, I may totally omit the sugar (while keeping the full amount of white chocolate), and see if that will help with the freezing part as well.

1½ cups heavy cream
1½ cups milk
½ cup granulated sugar
⅛ teaspoon fine salt
4 large egg yolks
8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons matcha powder, sifted

Click here for the full preparation method.