Desserts using Green Tea Ice Cream

[allie78]

My boyfriend loves green tea ice cream, so I bought a pint to serve as dessert for our Valentine's dinner...however, I want to do something fun with it. After searching the internet, I found a lot of desserts that used ice cream, but none specifically for green tea ice cream. Most of the ones I found used vanilla - and when looking at the rest of the ingredients, it didn't seem that green tea flavors would mesh well.

Does anyone have a recipe or ideas on how to make a fun, easy dessert w/ green tea ice cream? Thanks!

[FrancoD]

Green tea is made by boiling a leaf. There's no science behind what it is really, and to everyone it could be done differently, not necessarily better.

I would take a couple of things that he really likes, maybe as snacks or sides, and work them into the ice cream. I'd love chocolate, nuts, honey, caramel, fruit, biscotti...

Try this:
1-Remove the ice cream from the container and let it soften slightly in a big bowl or in your kitchen aid.
2-Add crushed roasted almonds, fresh strawberries (not many, as these could over power the green tea), and anything else you might think fits well, or tastes good (maybe he likes something not listed above. Add that).
3-Mix these contents together and re freeze. You can always dress up the ice cream in a single serving by chopping and preparing a fresh fruit platter with exotic fruits not available year round. To this platter you can add tons of different kinds of aphrodisiacs.

[amyzan]

Actually, most green tea isn't made with boiling water, unless you're interested in killing the flavors for some reason. It's best brewed with water somewhere between 160-180 or perhaps 190 degrees F. Not just different, but yes, better in my humble opinion. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation, but I just know it tastes good this way.

[mnosyne]

A dessert that I enjoyed very much at a Japanese restaurant was green tea ice cream with slices of ice-cold fuji apples, pears, and lichi, with some of those flat sweet wafer cookies.

[Eat.Choui]

I'll second the green tea with white chocolate combo. Green tea with red bean is good too. I also like green tea ice cream with sweet black sesame paste with butter cigarette cookies. What brand of green tea ice cream are you getting? Some tastes grassier than others. I know Dreyers is very mild in taste and I like it that way. The ones found in Asian groceries and be really strong and may work better with some combination that others.

[allie78]

I bought a pint of Haagen Daaz. I haven't tried that brand yet..so hopefully it's good.

[Isolda]

Haagen Dazs is the best! Very well balanced green tea flavor and a nice texture.

[ipsedixit]

Serve the green tea ice cream on top of a warm Belgian Waffle, then drizzle with a simple syrup infused with ginger, star anise, and fresh mint. Then before serving, dust with some Lipton's Instant Ice Tea mix.

[amyzan]

Try looking through Pichet Ong's The Sweet Spot for flavor combo ideas. I like green tea with white chocolate, with nuts like pistachios and almonds, or with tangy fruit like raspberries or sweet, creamy champagne mangoes, but there are lots of other ideas out there I'm sure. I have a vague memory of a fruity alcoholic float made with green tea ice cream I had once, but I'm not sure I remember what all was in it. (Sorry, I know that's not much help, but maybe it will start the creative process?) Green tea ice cream with smooth or chunky red bean paste is common on the west coast, and I've also seen it in parfaits with crumbled cookies and whipped cream. Also in cake roulades, but that's more trouble than you may want? If you want to go Japanese, you could make the cream cheese cake recipe in Harumi's Japanese Cooking to serve with the ice cream. It's a microwave recipe, and easy peasy.

[allie78]

Thanks for the suggestions! Funny you should mention the drink, it was the only 'recipe' I found when I searched google: http://nymag.com/listings/recipe/grap...
It actually sounds pretty good!

[amyzan]

Oh, that's hilarious! I wonder if that's the place I had it? It was a looong time ago.

[Pylon]

OK, this is going to sound weird, but there is a Japanese Garden festival here each year that serves a green tea ice cream with a sweet red bean paste on top. It's better than you would expect.

Not saying you should make that. Just letting you know you live in a world where it exists.

[Isolda]

That's actually a very common combination and it is delicious. Most of the Japanese restaurants around here serve green tea ice cream that way, but if you're not Japanese, you usually have to ask, because they assume westerners don't like it.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Easy thing would be to buy a selection of Chinese cookies, bun, and other pastries, even erotic fortune cookies.

[scoopG]

Erotic Fortune Cookies? Let me know who is selling them!

Green Tea Ice Cream will sub well for Vanilla. It is not an overpowering flavor. I would not recommend Green Tea Ice Cream with Chinese buns or pastries (which stand on their own and are consumed as snacks with milk tea usually.)