Many people swear by the taste of homemade ice cream, saying it can’t be beat by anything from the grocery store. It’s not too tough to make homemade ice cream without a machine, and you’re likely to get more subtle flavors and more silky textures. Plus, you get the options to spice up your scoops with whatever you like — including alcohol. Pairing ice cream and alcohol perfectly is one thing, but you have the option to add spirits like tequila directly into homemade ice cream (so long as you’re of legal drinking age). Despite its strong flavor, tequila offers you more options than you might expect.
Keep tequila pairings in mind when choosing an ice cream flavor. Unlike more neutral spirits like vodka, tequila is made from blue agave and has a sweeter, fruitier taste as a result. A cheap tequila can sometimes be sweeter from all the added sugars, while more high-end tequilas may have more balanced and possibly spiced flavor profiles. For the ice cream flavor, plain vanilla ice cream should easily work with tequila mixed in. Fruit ice creams or sorbets are also an easy pairing because plenty of fruit juices pair with tequila, and you can create a margarita ice cream of sorts. However, you can still go richer and whip up some chocolate ice cream with tequila. Anything which pairs with a sweet fruit should work here, and chocolate and fruits certainly go together.
Keep in mind that boozy ice cream melts faster
The results taste good but be warned that it can get slightly messy if you’re not careful. Adding a spirit will change the texture of the ice cream, because alcohol has a lower freezing point than water. Where water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, tequila won’t freeze until it reaches -10 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. This can actually make your ice cream softer and easier to handle with your spoon. It’ll also make the ice cream melt faster, unless you’re just adding a small spritz of it for flavor.
Using it to make ice cream a little more complicated than simply topping your ice cream with a shot of booze (which is certainly another option), but a few tablespoons added into the mixture should keep it stable enough. If you add too much more, you’ll end up with an ice cream smoothie at best and ice cream soup at worst. Flavor-wise, you might also consider reducing the sugar if you know you’ve got a sweeter tequila, and feel free to substitute a tablespoon or two of the tequila with another spirit that’s got a similar alcohol-by-volume. For example, you could include a bit of orange liqueur like triple sec for a more accurate margarita ice cream. Lastly, try not to go too rich with your ice cream, because tequila and dairy products can sometimes give people upset stomachs.
