Pumpkin Ice Cream

My penultimate pumpkin foray is the creation of a pumpkin ice cream. As mentioned in my previous post I found a great cookbook, "Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations," and as I still had tons of pumpkin puree left I had to try the ice cream. My neighbor owns a countertop ice cream maker so that helped too!

The hardest part was the careful separation out of the many egg yolks. After that it was mostly down to keeping your eye on the prize. Heating the milk and later the milk/sugar/egg yolk mixture requires constant stirring so none of it boils and then curdles. I went ahead and added some cinnamon, nutmeg and powdered cloves to the mix too (it already had vanilla bean) but I dont think those flavors were very evident in the final product.

Most reviews of the ice cream said it wasnt very pumpkin tasting though the flavor was there. All did agree that it was tasty. I figure it would go well if paired with the last recipe I am currently scouting for... the holiday worthy pumpkin pie.

I have some pie crust recipe's in the works as I have a feeling that the pie falls flat without a good crust.  Im also thinking the pumpkin puree will need to be cooked down to make it more concentrated. It may turn out that all of these dishes would have been better if I had run the original puree through a sieve and then cooked out the water. It has also been suggested that next year I try finding a pumpkin type that is specifically good for cooking (as opposed to carving like the one I bought).

One thing is for sure... I wont have the energy to attempt this much pumpkin stuff for about a year!