Looking outside this morning it seems crazy to be posting about ice cream! We have a few inches of snow so far and the boys are out building snow forts with the neighbors. Life is good. Snow or not, this is an ice cream worth posting about. I personally eat ice cream all year round. To me, it’s quite fun to snuggle up under a blanket by the fire with a bowl of ice cream! Plus with a flavor like this pumpkin ice cream it feels seasonal anyways.
You guys will need an ice cream maker for this one. Honestly, if you don’t have an ice cream maker I feel it’s worth the investment. They are pretty inexpensive and are a nice kitchen tool to have around. You get to manage the ingredients, sugar content etc. when you make it from scratch, and it really is a lot of fun playing around with different flavors and ice cream add ins.
Let’s start by gathering your ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup fresh pumpkin puree
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Measure out the half and half
Pour it into a medium sauce pan. Turn the heat on medium low and heat the milk, do not bring the milk to a boil.
In another bowl mix the 2 egg yolks and sugar together until it becomes a pale yellow and thick.
When the milk is hot, slowly pour a little of the hot milk into the sugar yolk mixture, whisking constantly. This allows the mixture to come to temperature and not make scrambled eggs! Slowly continue adding the milk until it is all incorporated.
Pour it back into the medium pot on the stove and cook until it thickens.
The mixture will coat the back of the spoon when it is ready.
Let the mixture cool in the bowl.
This is a picture of the fresh pumpkin. Take the 1/3 cup of pumpkin, the spices and the custard and process until smooth in a vitamix or blender.
Pour the final pumpkin mixture into the ice cream maker and process it, mine took about 15 minutes until it was a soft serve like consistency.
Place it in the freezer until it hardens up and you are ready to enjoy!
This was delicious with a little drizzle of hot fudge, enjoy!