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Cooking @ Home: Try Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream instead of traditional pumpkin pie
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I can hardly believe that it is November already. This year is flying by. To me, November means Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving means one of my favorite desserts of the year: pumpkin pie. I’d be fine to skip out on the turkey and potatoes entirely if I had to. But to borrow from a famous advertising campaign, no one had better lay a finger on my pumpkin pie.
I owe a lot of credit to this recipe to Savannah Blake, the photographer at The Gazette who came to take photos of the first two entries in this column. As she set up her lights, she asked what sorts of things I liked to make, and I mentioned ice cream, lamenting that I’d have to wait until the summer to give any good ice cream recipes. “Maybe you could do something with fall flavors, or pumpkin spice,” she said. I thought that was an amazing idea, and after a bit of tinkering, here it is!
Pumpkin pie is, essentially, a custard, so making a custard ice cream seemed like the natural choice. This requires a little extra time and attention with temperature control, but it makes a nice creamy texture — well worth it in the end. The brown sugar instead of the white is a subtle change to the regular flavor of this frozen custard but it adds something really special to the end product.
The one downside here is that pumpkin puree has a lot of water in it, and even with the first step of trying to drive some of the moisture out of it, this is going to set up quite hard. I usually recommend 2 tablespoons of neutral flavored alcohol in my frozen desserts. Not near enough to taste it, but enough to be some edible antifreeze. In this recipe, it’s almost a requirement, and even with it, it’s still going to need a few minutes on the counter to soften before you can scoop it. If you have someone in your household who absolutely cannot have the alcohol you can skip it but if you do, consider freezing in individual serving containers once you remove from your ice cream machine.
Recipe
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Prep time 20 minutes/Cook time 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch kosher salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brandy optional
Directions
Put pumpkin in a medium saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat to drive off moisture.
Add cream, milk, brown sugar, and salt and stir together.
Bring mixture just to a simmer at 170 degrees, then remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and brown sugar about 2 minutes.
Add in pumpkin pie spice, whisk to combine, then gradually whisk in 1 1/2 cups of the warm cream mixture to temper the eggs.
Drizzle and whisk the eggs from the bowl back into the saucepan, whisking constantly, then bring back to 170 degrees over medium heat, also whisking constantly.
Put pumpkin in a medium saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat to drive off moisture.
Add vanilla extract and brandy to ice cream and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours.
Source: Alex Gallegos
Alex Gallegos is an enthusiastic home cook who enjoys trying new recipes and learning new techniques. Find this recipe and others like it at PlatefulsOfFlavors.com
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