When I was in college, the student food court had a huge ice cream bar. Whenever I had dinner in the food court, I always had ice cream for dessert. It was there I discovered pumpkin ice cream. It’s beautiful color and flecks of spice piqued my interest and its earthy burst of spicy fall flavors hooked me. It was love at first bite.
Pumpkin ice cream can be hard to find in stores, but thankfully it’s easy to make right in your own kitchen. Normally when making homemade ice cream, you’d need to make it from scratch using an ice cream maker. However, most people I know don’t own one. You don’t have to run out and buy one (though if you do, I highly recommend the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker).
Here is a fabulous way to make a semi-homemade pumpkin ice cream using pumpkin puree. If you enjoy the warm spicy tastes of fall, I think you’ll adore this recipe. When making the ice cream you’ll want to work quickly so you don’t have issues with refreezing it. Be sure to store the ice cream in an airtight container and place the container in the back of the freezer. My storage container of choice is this flat Rubbermaid 5-Cup Dry Food Container.
Pumpkin Ice Cream
1¾ cups pumpkin puree
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ gallon vanilla ice cream, softened (not runny!)
1 cup crumbled ginger snaps
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir well until the sugar is dissolved and the spices are evenly distributed.
Scoop ice cream into a freezer safe container. Pack it down firmly and be sure to leave at least ½ inch head space so that any expansion during freezing will not disturb the lid.
Place the ice cream in the freezer for 3 to 4 hours to harden.
[jetpack_subscription_form]
© 2014, Andrea Thorpe. All rights reserved.
Andrea,
I just found your website 🙂 I did not know you had a blog.
This is a nice recipe. I have an old ice cream maker.. it makes quite a bit of noise and was given to me years ago. This is much simpler and I can make it whenever I want some pumpkin ice cream. It’ll be perfect for a pumpkin cheesecake I make .
Thanks!
Shireen
Shireen recently posted…Bite-Sized Tips # 3: 21 Stunning Towns to Retire to
You’re welcome Shirleen! I use a Cuisinart ice cream maker and it makes a whirring sound as it churns, but it’s not too loud. Yes, this recipe is a simple one as I don’t have time to go making ice cream straight from scratch. Enjoy and thank you for visiting me.