It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I know everyone is beyond over pumpkin ANYTHING. So the absolute nerve of me to post two pumpkin recipes in a row. However, I’m pushing the proverbial pumpkin envelope today and posting this amazing, delicious ice cream.
If you have time today (haha who has time the day before preparing a Thanksgiving meal?), the ingredients and the inclination, make this for your guests. They will love you forever.
I happened to have roasted pumpkin puree on hand as well as a big ball of homemade marzipan in the freezer. Also there were various cartons of milk, cream, half and half in my fridge that desperately needed to be used up.
My goal was to create new Thanksgiving dessert inspired dishes using up what I had on hand. So that’s how this ice cream flavor was born. What I found out is that pumpkin and marzipan is an ice cream match made in heaven. Those sweet nuggets of homemade almond goodness are the perfect accent to the sweet, earthy pumpkin flavor.
Another Thanksgiving winner winner turkey dinner dessert.
For the pumpkin ice cream:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 teaspoon clove powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups roasted pumpkin purée*
Directions:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the spices and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl and set aside.
- Place cream milk and sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over a medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
- Remove from heat.
- Pour some of the creamy liquid into a measuring cup.
- Whisking constantly, gently pour the hot liquid from the measuring cup into the bowl with the egg yolks until they are combined.
- Pour the egg yolk liquid back into the saucepan with the rest of the mixture and reheat over a low flame.
- Stir in the roasted pumpkin purée.
- When mixture just comes to a boil, remove from heat.
- Transfer to a heat proof bowl and cover with plastic cling film, making sure the plastic touches the custard. This prevents a crust from forming.
- Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Remove from fridge and transfer custard to the bowl of an ice cream maker.
- Process according to manufacturers instructions.
- Mix in the chopped marzipan pieces
- Scrape ice cream (which will now be soft serve consistency) into a plastic tub with a tightly sealed lid.
- Freeze for at least two hours before serving.
For the Homemade Marzipan:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place the whole pumpkin on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and roast for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and carefully slice off the stem and cut the pumpkin into quarters.
- Return the pieces to the oven and roast for another 40 minutes or until you can easily run a fork through the flesh and skin of the pumpkin.
- Remove the pumpkin pieces from the oven and let cool completely.
- Scrape out the stringy flesh and seeds and set aside.
- Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and transfer to a food processor. Discard or compost the outer skins.
- Purée the pumpkin flesh in the processor until smooth.
