This creamy horchata ice cream sings with the cozy flavors of cinnamon and toasted rice. Made with 8 ingredients & 30 minutes active time!
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Chilling time: 4 hourshours
Total: 4 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Servings: 6servings (3 cups)
Ingredients
⅓cup(65 g) uncooked medium or long grain white rice
1½cups(350 ml) whole milk
2cinnamon sticks (3 inches each), plus an extra one for grating over the finished ice cream (optional)
4large egg yolks
½cup(100 g) sugar
¼teaspoonground cinnamon
pinchsalt
1¼cup(300 ml) heavy cream
Instructions
Infuse the Milk
In a dry, medium saucepan, toast the rice and cinnamon stick over medium-low heat until the rice is fragrant and barely golden, 2-4 minutes.
Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the milk (it will bubble furiously when it first hits the hot pan). Return to medium-low heat until the milk is hot and steamy, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat, cover and steep for 20 minutes.
Strain the infused milk through a mesh strainer into a bowl and reserve the hot milk; you should have 1 ⅓ cups. If the rice has absorbed more milk, add more milk to make 1 ⅓ cup. Discard the rice and cinnamon stick.
Make the Ice Cream Base
Pour the cold heavy cream into a metal bowl and set a fine mesh strainer over the top. Prepare an ice water bath and place the bowl with the cream in it into the ice water bath.
When the milk has steeped, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl to combine.
Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the milk mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon or heatproof silicone spatula, until the mixture just starts to thicken on the bottom of the pan and/or reaches 165-170ºF on an instant-read thermometer.
Immediately strain the mixture into the cold cream, stirring to combine. Stir occasionally until the mixture is cold.
Refrigerate the ice cream base for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
Churn the Ice Cream
Churn the cold ice cream base in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions (this is my preferred ice cream maker because it attaches to my stand mixer) until the ice cream reaches the consistency of a very thick milkshake.
Scrape the churned ice cream into a container and freeze until firm enough to scoop, 2 - 3 hours or up to several weeks. Grate a bit of cinnamon stick over the ice cream to serve, if desired.
Notes
Ideally, start this recipe at least 1 day before you want to serve it to allow for chilling and freezing. This will create the smoothest ice cream consistency.
Ice cream base should be chilled for at least 4 hours before churning, but chilling it overnight will yield a smoother, creamier texture and improved flavor.
The ice cream needs to 'cure' in the freezer for a few hours after churning. Unless you'd rather put the ice cream maker on the table, with spoons, and let your guests eat out of it like pigs feeding from a trough (my personal preference!).
Ingredient substitutions:
In place of milk and cream, use full-fat canned coconut milk for dairy-free horchata ice cream
In place of sugar, use an equal weight of coconut sugar, or 1/2 cup maple syrup, for refined sugar-free
Nutritional values are based on one of six servings.