One of the boba crazes that stuck around is brown sugar boba ice cream, but I did not believe that these are worth $3 a pop. Thank goodness for Kind of Cooking and their amazing, easy, painstakingly developed DIY brown sugar boba ice cream recipe.

Brown sugar boba ice cream bar by Xiao Mei 小美 Brand

I adapted it to ice cream by the bucket instead of by the bar because I happened to have a handy ice cream scooper, but no popsicle molds.

There are 3 parts: the ice cream, the brown sugar syrup, and the boba, which is actually mochi for this purpose, because cooked tapioca pearls would become rocks once frozen.

Fun fact: With just 2 ingredients and an electric mixer, you can make a mean ice cream. Just combine sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream, mix, and freeze. I’d recommend adding a drop of vanilla extract or another flavor for taste.

The mochi aka boba pearls for the ice cream are made with glutinous rice flour and brown sugar.

Last, but not least, the brown sugar syrup consists of… you guessed it, brown sugar. And water, and some cornstarch to make it thicker for that streaky color throughout the ice cream.

The ingredients are not complicated and neither are the tools. Please see Kind of Cooking’s blog for the full recipe.

To make a tub of ice cream, simply pipe the ice cream mix into a single large glass container instead of separate molds. Be sure to freeze at least overnight (10-12 hr).

Tip: I recommend following the piping instructions in order to get a nice even mix of boba and ice cream; otherwise, your pearls might all end up sitting at the bottom.

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