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A homemade pumpkin ice cream is a custard made with half and half, heavy cream and egg yolks and topped with a graham cracker crust. This pumpkin ice cream is the real deal!
Each year I patiently wait for September so that I can find some pumpkin ice cream in my local grocery stores. It seems silly, because I certainly can make it at home. Whatever I do, no matter how hard I try, I can’t quite get it to be as smooth in texture and as creamy as the grocery store.
However, this Homemade Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream is the closest I’ve come to a homemade recipe that I would make over and over again.
While I do have a no-churn pumpkin ice cream, it can’t quite compare to a recipe that is made from scratch.
When I was looking for a recipe to share over at Better Homes and Gardens this month, I was pretty excited about trying this ice cream recipe.
The recipe calls for an ice cream base made with half and half, brown sugar and egg yolks. The only change I made to the base recipe is that I substituted one cup of heavy cream.
Here’s the downside about this recipe. You have make the ice cream base on the stovetop and then wait for it to cool completely before you churn it. Sometimes I simply cannot wait because that’s how much I love pumpkin ice cream. Oh and you also have to make sure you ice cream maker is fully chilled.
This ice cream does have a hint of whisky in it, which I feel is becoming my staple in my recipes, and I hope you guys are okay with that!
One of the ways I changed this recipe was too add some graham cracker crust crumbs into the ice cream. I just mixed ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs with 2 tablespoons of melted butter so that the crust was easy to press together. Then I sprinkles it into the ice cream as I poured it in the pan.
If you’ve never made homemade ice cream before, I definitely encourage you to try. If you can temper egg yolks, you can make homemade ice cream!
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PrintHomemade Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 5 cups
Description
A homemade pumpkin custard ice cream made with half and half, heavy cream and egg yolks. Topped with a graham cracker crust. This pumpkin ice cream is the real deal!
Ingredients
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the half-and-half , heavy whipping cream and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the brown sugar or until bubbles form around the edges of the pan.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolks, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the warmed liquid mixture into the eggs and continue to whisk until smooth, work quickly so as not to cook the egg yolks.
- Pour the egg mixture back into the liquid mixture in the saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture coats the back of a large metal spoon, about 4 minutes. Do not boil.
- Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in the bourbon and vanilla.
- Next, whisk the pumpkin into the mixture until thoroughly combined. Cover the surface of the liquid with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours.
- Churn in your ice cream maker until the custard has thickened.
- Combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and stir to combine. As you pour the ice cream into your freezer-safe container, layer in the graham cracker crumbs.
- Pour the liquid into a freezer-safe container and freeze for 3 or more hours.
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from BHG.com for the Delish Dish Blog.
- Category: Ice Cream
At what point do you add this mixture to the ice cream maker? You said this wasn’t a no churn recipe, however your instructions do not contain the churn time.
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Hi Sonja, I am looking back at the BHG website, this is an older recipe I made for them and unfortunately I can’t recall the specific churn time snd Better Homes and Gardens doesn’t seem to list it either. I will amend this with a note on the recipe. Generally speaking you should be churning the ice cream until it reaches a thick consistency.
No need to publish my comment, but one of your BHG links is broken 🙂
http://www.bhg.com/blogs/delish-dish/2016/10/26/pumpkin-pie-ice-cream/
Thank you Candace. BHG took down their blog where this was posted. I just updated the link to the original recipe and posted a recipe card with my updates on it. Appreciate it!
Pumpkin pie ice cream is one of my favorite flavors! It is just so good!
This ice cream looks like it has a lovely texture – I also love the graham cracker crust factor, sounds delicious! 🙂
As usual, a visual delight. I bet it tastes a scrumptious as it looks!