Another Autumn Treat: Pumpkin Ice Cream!

Earlier in the month, some friends invited me over for a bit of a celebration, and banana pudding was highly demanded by many of my friends. And yeah, that could have been enough. But not for me. I needed to bring something else to really make an impact. That and I just love cooking.

I still had plenty of pumpkin puree left over from my experiments with pumpkin pie, and having had the good fortune to find actual heavy whipping cream at my local grocery (unlike the other local grocery which is lame and does not have it) I decided an excellent use of the pumpkin would be pumpkin ice cream, to keep with the season. Spoiler alert, it was very well received.

Please note you will need an ice cream makerfor this recipe. Also note this is hardly an instant satisfaction recipe, there’s a lot of chilling time involved. And you probably need to freeze your ice cream maker container if it is one of those models.

On to ingredients! Clockwise from upper left: Bourbon, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger, heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla extract, egg yolks, pumpkin puree (or canned). Specific measurements and recipes at the end of the post!

First, add a teaspoon of vanilla to the pumpkin puree. Whisk together and chill for three hours.

Combine a half cup of brown sugar with one and a half cup of cream in a saucepan.

Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the saucepan, about five minutes, and remove from heat.

In the meantime, combine the eggs, spices, salt and remaining cream and brown sugar together. basically everything you have left except for the bourbon and pumpkin puree.

Whisk until smooth.

Temper this egg mixture with your still hot cream and brown sugar mixture.

And then pour all of this back into the saucepan with the heavy cream.

Cook over medium heat again, and stir constantly until thick. When the mixture can coat your spoon and leave a clear line drawn through it, you’re in good shape.

Strain into a bowl.

Place that bowl in a larger bowl with ice water.

Stir until cool, then add the pumpkin puree.

Whisk well!

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the custard, then chill for at least three hours or a day.

When you’re ready, use your ice cream maker according to the usual instructions. For my model, that means putting the ingredients through the top, and churning for 25-30 minutes.

This model uses a frozen canister, which is very convenient, but only good for basically one batch before you need to clean and freeze it again.

Nice and tidy no?

As an extra precaution against clumsiness I employed a large funnel.

After turning the machine on I carefully poured in the pumpkin custard mixture while taking a blurry photograph.

And then just let it go! Here’s a shot of it towards the end of the churning, you can see how thick it is.

I added the bourbon in the 24th minute.

And we’re done! Look at how lovely and thick it is. Now the chore of placing it into a safe container and freezing it (at least three hours) for friends later.

It actually looks like ice cream!

And it makes for an interesting accompaniment to banana pudding. Please leave a comment and in the meantime I’ll continue dishing out more recipes for you guys!

Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection: Ice Cream:

• 1 cup (8 oz.) pumpkin puree or unsweetened canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups heavy cream, divided into 1.5 cups and 1/2 cup (may be hard to track down. For example, my local Safeway has it, but my Lucky’s does not)
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, divided into 1/2 cups and 1/4 cup
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tbsp. bourbon

Special Equipment: Ice cream maker, prepped according to manufacturer’s suggestions.

1. Whisk pumpkin puree and vanilla together. Chill at least three hours or overnight.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the 1.5 cups of heavy cream with half cup of brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, remove from heat when bubbles form, about five minutes.
3. Combine egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg and remaining cream and brown sugar. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and it appears smooth.
4. Temper the egg mixture by adding a half cup of the hot cream and whisking until smooth.
5. Add tempered egg mixture into heavy cream mixture, and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When it is thick enough to coat a wooden spoon and leave a clear line through it it is ready. It is now a custard.
6. Strain into a bowl through fine meshed strainer.
7. Set bowl in a larger bowl filed with ice water, and stir until cool.
8. Now add the pumpkin puree, whisking well.
9. Place plastic wrap on surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.
10. Chill for at least three hours, or up to a day (24 hours.)
11. Use the chilled custard in your ice cream maker as directed. Add bourbon during last minute of mixing.
12. Place the ice cream into freezer safe container, freeze for at least three hours and serve!