Thandai Ice Cream

Thandai ice cream is a delicious ice cream flavor made with thandai mix. Thandai is a popular drink made during the Holi festival. It is made with a variety of spices and nuts ground to a coarse powder and mixed in chilled milk.

Thandai has a strong aroma and flavor because of spices like poppy seeds, fennel seeds, melon seeds and nuts like cashews and pistachios.

Personally, I like to use the store bought thandai syrup and Guruji thandai is a popular brand I use most of the times.

I have made this thandai ice cream with thandai syrup in the Cuisinart ice cream maker. It is delicious, flavorful and a perfect dessert to enjoy during the summers or the Holi festival.

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
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• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

This delicious thandai ice cream is made with only 3 ingredients. You will need whole milk, heavy cream, and thandai mix syrup. I have used the Guruji brand thandai syrup to make this recipe. It is easily available in the Indian grocery stores. Any other brand will work fine as well.

As the thandai syrup already has sugar added to it, there is no need to add any sugar to the recipe.

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, add milk and thandai syrup. Using a hand blender with a whisk attachment, blend them well at medium speed. Now add the heavy cream and give it a quick mix.

At this point, you can taste the thandai mix to see if you want a stronger flavor. You can stir in 1-2 tablespoons of syrup more if needed.

Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours and then churn it in the ice cream maker as per your manufacturer's instructions. If you are using a machine that needs freezing of the bowl for 24 hours then you will have to plan accordingly.

Churn the mixture for about 25 minutes. The ice cream will be of soft-serve consistency. You can serve it right away. However, if you want to enjoy it later or make it firm, transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and freeze it for 5-6 hours.

Optionally you can garnish it with some nuts like chopped pistachios and almonds, cardamom powder, and saffron strands while freezing or while serving.

Substitutions

If you are unable to find the thandai syrup, you can use the store-bought thandai masala without added sugar. You will have to first blend the sugar with milk and then add the thandai masala and heavy cream.

Variations

This thandai ice cream is made with only 3 ingredients. The flavor of thandai masala is mild. If you prefer a much stronger flavor, you can add about 1-2 tablespoons more of the thandai syrup.

Equipment

The first step is to blend the ingredients together. I have used a hand blender with a whisk attachment however, a stand mixer or hand mixer will work well as well.

I have churned the thandai ice cream in the 1.5 quarts Cuisinart ICE 100 compressor ice cream maker. This recipe yields about one quart of ice cream. You can also make this ice cream in another type of ice cream maker and scale the ingredients accordingly.

If you are looking for an ice cream maker for your family and are confused about which one to buy, check out this post on which ice cream maker to buy.

Storage

Just like other homemade ice creams, thandai ice cream can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for about a month. It is best to consume them within the first 2 weeks else you might see a film of tiny ice crystals on the top layer of the ice cream.

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