Earl Grey Blueberry Lavender Swirl Ice Cream

This No Churn Ice Cream celebrates both my favourite morning tea, as well as fresh blueberries.

In fact, the two main flavour components of this easy to whip up ice cream stand amazing on their own as well.

First things first. No Churn is just the best when it comes to making ice cream.  So if you don’t have an ice cream maker or attachment for your large stand mixer, no worries, no need to invest in one.  All you need is whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, pure vanilla extract, and a smidge of salt.  Yep, just combining these four (and maybe some scraped seeds from a vanilla pod, and you can whip up a sensational vanilla ice cream.  It freezes wonderfully, and scoops out perfectly for cones, or to top a slice of pie etc.

Earl Grey Ice Cream

Along with the basic ingredients listed above, you really only need tea bags to create an ice cream with depth and gentle flavours that are next level.  Just simmer the tea bags in the heating cream on the stove top, and then let it all cool down.  Press gently to extract any cream soaked up by the tea bags as you remove them.  Transfer the flavoured cream to a smaller container and chill over night. 

Now it comes times to actually make the ice cream.  You will whip up the cooled earl grey cream in a stand mixer.  As is starts to firm up, add in room temperature creme fraiche (or even mascarpone cheese!)  This will create such a creamy mouth-feel in the final ice cream.  Whip till firm peaks are achieved. In a separate bowl you will combine the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. Now spoon some of the whipped cream into the condensed milk. Gently fold till combined. Add in more of the whipped cream, till it is finally all combined. 

Bonus: for extra oomph, and texture as well as visual punch, you could also add in crushed loose leaf Cream of Earl Grey tea.  (the kind that has dried vanilla leaves scattered within the dried tea leaves) Crush these up in a mortar and pestle or with the back of a spoon, to mince up all the leaves.  Add these in as you are folding the whipped cream and condensed milk.

At this pount you can transfer the entire contents of the bowl into a freezer safe glass container (or ice cream container, here is an example of what I have) cover and set in the freezer to firm up.  Give it overnight for best results, the colour will also intensify slightly.  Speaking of containers, you can also use loaf pans (I often do) covered with several layers of foil.  These days you can also find stainless steel lidded containers, if you don’t want more plastic in your life. 

Blueberry Lavender Compote

I love the Earl Grey Ice Cream as is, the flavour and texture is sublime, soft, gentle and rather comforting, if an ice cream can be comforting!  It works great for affogato, for sundaes, and goes with so many pie flavours etc.  But let’s take it to the next level by adding an extra flavour punch.  Blueberries and Earl Grey work so good in bakes together.  While I usually flavour my blueberry compote with spices or even angustura bitters, this time around I’m adding lavender. Adding lavender to the blueberries is my way of paying tribute to a London Fog tea, which is Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, and lavender syrup.  See where I’m going?!

The Blueberry Lavender Swirl is so easy to make.  Fresh (or frozen) blueberries, some honey or sugar, crushed lavender buds, and lemon juice are simmered in a small pot till the berries start to pop open.  Give them a hand at the end by using the back of a wooden spoon to help burst the remaining ones open.  Let the compote cool, and then transfer to the fridge to cool completely.  The compote will finishing thickening as it cools down.

Combine the Blueberry Lavender compote and the Earl Grey Ice Cream

Lay down half of the Earl Grey Ice Cream into your freezer safe container.  Spoon half of the Blueberry Lavender Compote on top of the ice cream.  Repeat with the remaining ice cream and compote. Now use a skewer to gently swirl the compote into the ice cream. DON’T over swirl, as it will just turn the entire ice cream purple!  You want the blueberry compote to be visible, and not muddy up the ice cream portion.

Final Thoughts

Both the Earl Grey Cream and the Blueberry Lavender Compote can be made the day before you want to make the ice cream.  They both need time to cool down completely, so don’t try and cram it all into one day.

Like I mentioned above, feel free to make the ice cream without the Blueberry Lavender Swirl.  If you find that you lost a bit of cream as it was simmering with the tea bags, and then after you sqeezed the tea bags, feel free to top up the final amount with some extra cream to get to the needed two cups.

Make the Blueberry Lavender compote on its own as a topping for yogurt, oatmeal, etc, It works wonderfully over cheesecake! If you are making a batch for other applications liek this, I would double the recipe.

If you don’t want to use lavender buds, feel free to add some spice instead.  I find that using blueberries on their own results in a flat sweetness.  They really benefit from some spice, like cardamom, allspice etc.  Even a few dashes of angustura bitters makes such a difference.  These all add a little depth to blueberries!  But of course, for this ice cream, use the lavender buds, anything else will just compete with the Earl Grey flavour.

For other ice cream flavours, both No Churn and Traditional, check out Speculaas Cookie Butter No Churn Ice Cream, No Churn Black Forest Ice Cream, Strawberry Shortcake No Churn Ice Cream, Lemony Lemon Curd Poppyseed Ice Cream, Horchata Candied Almond Ice Cream

If you make this joyful Earl Grey Ice Cream with Blueberry Lavender Swirl, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

Love Jen

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Earl Grey Blueberry Lavender Swirl Ice Cream

Easy No Churn ice cream is the best. This flavour combo of Earl Grey tea and Blueberry Lavender compote is both comforting, serene, and so special. The lavender and earl grey combination are a nod to my favourite London Fog latte.

Course Dessert

Cuisine North American

Keyword blueberry lavender compote, earl grey ice cream, no churn ice cream

Prep Time 45 minutes

Chill Time 7 hours

Ingredients

Earl Grey Ice Cream

• 2 cups (500 ml) Heavy, whipping cream (35% or more) see Notes
• 5 Earl Grey tea bags, try to source ones that aren't in plastic bags
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) Creme fraiche (or room temperature mascarpone cheese) see Notes
• 14 oz (300 ml) Sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1 to 1.5 tbsp fresh Cream of Earl Grey tea leaves, optional, see Notes

Blueberry Lavender Compote

• 1 cup (approx 150 grams or more) fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 tbsp honey, see Notes
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp crushed lavender buds, see Notes

Instructions

Blueberry Lavender Compote, make in advance

1. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the blueberries, honey, crushed lavender buds and lemon juice.
2. Stir regularly as the blueberries cook down and start releasing their juices. The liquid will thicken slightly, after 5-7 minutes or so. Use the back of a wooden spoon to help the berries along in bursting open. Transfer everything to a small glass jar with a lid and cool. Once cooled down, transfer to the fridge to cool completely, overnight, It will continue to thicken as it cools.

Earl Grey Ice Cream

1. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan, and add in the tea bags (I remove the paper tags before adding them in)
2. Bring the cream to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Once simmering full, you can remove the sauce pan from the heat and let the tea bags steep in the cream for 15 minutes or so. Once the tea bags are cool enough to handle, gently squeeze out any cream that has been absorbed, being careful not to squeeze to the point of bursting open the tea bag (that would not be good!)
3. Transfer the cooled cream into a smaller container with a lid and store in the fridge till needed, the cream should be completely cooled, overnight is best.
4. On day two, transfer the cooled cream to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip until soft peaks form. Add in the creme fraiche or softened mascarpone cheese, and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
5. In a large bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and salt.
6. Add in about 1/4 quarter of the whipped cream and gently fold into the condensed milk. Repeat till everything is combined, doing so gently so as not to deflate the whipped cream. At this point you can also fold in the crushed loose leaf earl grey tea leaves if using.

Assemble the Ice Cream

1. In a chilled freezer safe container or loaf pan, spoon half of the Earl Grey ice cream into the bottom. Spoon half of the chilled blueberry compote randomly over the ice cream. Use a skewer or knife to gently swirl the compote into the ice cream (do not over swirl)

2. Repeat with the remaining ice cream and compote.

3. Cover securely and chill for at least eight hours, overnight is best.

4. Remove the chilled ice cream to warm up 10-15 minutes before spooning out.

5. See blog post for more details.

Recipe Notes

Don't worry if the amount of whipping cream you are using isn't the full 500 ml (these days, with shrinkflation, our containers here in Canada only hold 473 ml) it won't affect the final outcome of the ice cream, it will still be great.
You can either make creme fraiche, or you can purchase it. If using mascarpone cheese, make sure it has come to room temperature for easy blending in with the cream.
If using the loose Earl Grey tea leaves at the end, crush them first in a small bowl or with a mortar and pestle. This will ensure that any large dried leaves etc are reduced to a pleasant texture that won't overwhelm the final flavour.  Using Cream of Earl Grey tea leaves means that there are also dried vanilla leaves in the blend, which will be even better than plain Earl Grey! But if you can only find plain Earl Grey leaves, that will fine.
You can replace the 2 tbsp of honey with up to 1/4 cup granulated sugar in the blueberry sauce. If you have Lavender Honey (as I happened to have this time around, it just makes sense to use it!)
If you want to use this compote for other applications, I would double the recipe. Instead of using lavender buds, feel free to use 1/4 tsp cardamom, and 1/8 tsp allspice. Taste and see if you want to add more. You can also use a five or so good dashes of angustura bitters. These will all add a lovely depth of flavour to the blueberries, which tend to be a bit flat on their own.  But for the ice cream above, use the lavender buds.