Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

I mentioned on Facebook that I may have found the ultimate pumpkin ice cream recipe but I wouldn't know until I froze it. I finally froze it. And...it's amazing!

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

• 1 can minus 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin (you could use the whole can, and I am sure it would be fine. See below as to why I didn't.)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• a dash of ground cloves 

Mix all ingredients and chill. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and churn according to your machine's instructions.

Here are my thoughts on this ice cream. It's fantastic. My friend and I tried it tonight and we both agreed. It tastes like a perfect frozen pumpkin pie.

My complaints? For some reason a ton of this ice cream stuck to the edges of the canister as it froze and so I had about 1/8 inch of hard frozen base against my canister that didn't get any air mixed in. In fact, the ice cream as a whole was really dense, so with the loss of the ice cream along the edge of the canister, and the denseness of the ice cream, I only got about two good cups.

Secondly, the after the ice cream was churned, I put it in the freezer to ripen. When I took it out of the freezer, it was rock hard. Once I let it soften for about ten minutes, the ice cream was perfect scooping temperature, and ended up being perfect on our palettes. Problem is, I didn't really want to wait ten minutes for my ice cream. I wanted it when I wanted it. But alas, this wait was a small price to pay for the ice cream we were able to savor

As you see, I garnished the ice cream with little star cookies. These cookies -- actually, graham crackers -- are the reason I am short two tablespoons of pumpkin from the can. I wanted to make graham crackers for Violet. I came across Stef from Cupcake Project's recipe for Pumpkin Graham Crackers. Yum! (To be honest though, I couldn't really taste the pumpkin and they really tasted like gingerbread cookies to me, but either way, I really like them!) Problem was, what to do with one can minus two tablespoons of pumpkin. I could have put it in the fridge for another day, but last time I did that, I forgot about it and it got to old to use -- and with the price I paid for a can of pumpkin (I am not sure why it was so high at my grocery store, seeing as there wasn't a shortage this year), I didn't want to waste it. Soooooo, I used it for the recipe that I have been dying to experiment -- pumpkin ice cream made with the simple combo of sweetened condensed milk.

And what a successful experiment it was!

Pumpkin Ice Cream Review ~ Whole Foods

Yippee for Pumpkin Ice Cream....omg I am in love with all things Pumpkin. I am not sure if tis a New England thing but October and November hits and if it comes in a Pumpkin flavor I am all over it so when Erin at OrganicWorks asked about us checking out Whole Food's new seasonal ice cream flavors I was so hoping one was my all time fave, Pumpkin....yum! And guess what, it was! (the other was Peppermint which we'll be breaking into once holiday time hits!)

First things first. Since I am an art director by day I have to make note of the fabulous packaging of this ice cream. I absolutely love the colors, the simplicity of the typography and the graphic pattern. What's not to love and I haven't even opened it up.


On to the ice cream. I can't really say I am a Pumpkin expert but I tell you I have had four different kinds of Pumpkin ice cream this season so I have something to compare them all to. So my first reaction is wow what incredible  flavor. This one has the strongest pumpkin flavor out of all of them followed up by the subtleness of ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Not too much spice and plenty of pumpkin whereas some sometimes have more spice than Pumpkin. If you look closely at my photo you can see flecks of pumpkin and spices. On texture, its not the creamiest of all the ones I tried but it is very smooth and absolutely nothing to complain about.


Oh and the bonus is is that this ice cream which is Whole Food's 365 Everyday Value line of products has no gluten products, is vegetarian and is made from milk from cows not treated with rBGH. So its not only just good..its good for all. Actually calorie wise its not too bad either. For a half a cup it's 140 calories and 6 grams of fat somewhat comparable to light or slow churned ice creams. 


All in all this one is a keeper. Bummer is that Whole Foods isn't so easy for me to go to but how much can I eat in one season so its probably a good thing.  But I do have to say come Thanksgiving I will be one sad girl to see all the Pumpkin craziness go away so I will be savoring this one til the end.

Happy Thanksgiving - Pumpkin Ice Cream Recipe

Its been a slow fall here at Scoopalicious as Bethany geared up for her awesome Open Studios Holiday Sale (if you didn't know she is not only an amazing ice cream maker but an amazing artist too!) and myself, well life with new baby and full time job, oh and lack of sleep, makes it hard to motivate but enough excuses, we promise the new year will bring lots of ice cream happiness!

One thing that hasn't slowed down though is our love for ice cream and this time of year anything Pumpkin is a good thing. I recently had to bribe (yes, bribe!) my four year old with the promise of ice cream if she'd just go in "one" more store with Mommy. Little did she know I was dying to go back to one of our favorite homemade ice cream shops to see if they had Pumpkin Ice Cream so the bribe was actually my own selfish thoughts but she really didn't need to know that. Results...one happy kid (scoop choice=Birthday Cake) and one happy Mom who not only got her shopping done but fabulous ice cream (see pic) too!


So in case you are looking to make some ice cream to go with that yummy pie here are a couple recipes to try...


STEP BY STEP Pumpkin Ice Cream Recipe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFMvuD-7KZE

Pumpkin Ice Cream Recipe

2 cups heavy cream
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
2/3 cup puréed pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Heat 1 1/3 cups of the cream over medium-high heat. Remove from heat when edges start to bubble.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, corn syrup, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a metal mixing bowl. Gradually pour the hot cream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour egg mixture back into the pan and cook over low-med heat stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until mixture is thick enough to coat back of the spatula.

Pour custard through a sieve into a bowl. Add pumpkin, vanilla, and remaining 2/3 cup of cream, and whisk until blended. Cool over an ice bath. Refrigerate custard for about 4 hours. Transfer custard to an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!