Homemade Pumpkin Ice Cream

As promised, here's that homemade pumpkin ice cream recipe for you! It's the second recipe I've made using my new ice cream maker. And it was another success, just like the first one - peanut butter chip! :)

This recipe is from the book my sister gave me for my birthday, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream (should I be concerned she gave this book to ME?).

Ingredients:

-1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin

-1 tsp. cinnamon

-3/4 tsp. ginger

-3/4 tsp. nutmeg

-3/4 cup sugar

-3 cups whole milk

-2 cups heavy cream

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix until well blended. Cool mixture in fridge until it reaches 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer mixture to your ice cream maker and follow instructions. I let my machine go for about 15 - 20 minutes, and then it was ready!

Of note, I used whole milk in this recipe, but the cookbook actually calls for half-and-half. The reason I used whole milk was that I already had it on hand (leftover from the peanut butter chip ice cream recipe!). I did a quick google search and decided that whole milk was a "close enough" substitution to half-and-half. Luckily my gamble was okay, and the ice cream was delicious! Next time, however, I'd probably try it with half-and-half just to see if it's any different.

Weeeeee, the ingredients go round and round...

Here's the ice cream right out of the machine. It's a softer texture at this point, which I love. Soooo good. I kinda wish I could eat the entire two quarts in one sitting...

After freezing it, it does become harder but the flavors are still amazing! I still have some in my freezer actually. I had some last night with some hot apple cider as a treat before bed. Talk about awesome fall flavors! The cinnamon and nutmeg really come through in this ice cream.

Isn't this a lovely cake? A couple weeks ago my coworkers surprised me with this cake to congratulate Mike and me. How sweet!! It was super delicious too.

Cake & ice cream:

The best combo!

By the way, do you remember when I talked about the shortage of pumpkin? Well, not to worry - my sister, mom, and future mother-in-law have all come to the rescue for me!! My sister gave me a big can of pumpkin she had in her pantry, and my mom and future mother-in-law both found some in stores near them and bought several cans for me. PHEW! Thank goodness (and thanks so much to them!). No more shortage of pumpkin for a while. I think I have the equivalent of about 12 15-oz. cans now! I've got some baking to do. :) 

Homemade Peanut Butter Chip Ice Cream

Did you know that today, September 13th, is National Peanut Day? Neither did I until several of the various food blog and websites that I frequently visit mentioned it today. Even though my peanut butter chip ice cream recipe does not directly contain peanuts, they're obviously in there somewhere since this recipe involves peanut butter. ;-) So I thought it was fitting that I share this recipe with you today!

As you may know, if you read my last Friday Favorites post, I received an ice cream maker from Mike for my birthday in August. Hooray! I've been wanting one. :)

Last week we made our first batch together. Peanut butter chip was our flavor of choice! We used a recipe right from the Cuisinart booklet that came with the machine.

Ingredients:

-1 cup peanut butter (not natural)

-2/3 cup granulated sugar

-1 cup whole milk

-2 cups heavy cream

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or whatever type of chips you choose)

Instructions:

In a medium mixing bowl on low speed, combine the peanut butter and sugar until smooth. Add the milk and mix on low speed until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.

Turn on your ice cream maker, and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Five minutes before mixing is completed, add the chips through the top and let mix completely. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer for about 15 minutes before serving.

This whole process was so fun! I've never made homemade ice cream like this before. :-D

Mike and I both agreed that this ice cream was deeelicious. However, beware; it is on the rich side. A small serving was all each of us could handle! And that's better for our waist lines anyway. ;-) But we really really enjoyed it, and we've also been enjoying it a few more times since we made it last week... We tried it immediately when it was ready and still on the softer side as far as ice cream goes. I loved the texture of it at that stage!! It's also great as a hard ice cream though after it's frozen longer. Either way = a tasty, homemade treat!

My sister gave me this great ice cream cookbook pictured below for my birthday... As we speak, I have pumpkin ice cream in the works! Can't wait to try it. If it's yummy, you'll see it here on the blog ASAP. I could not wait to make something pumpkin-y!! I couldn't hold it in any longer. That can of pumpkin in the pantry just had to be used. You can bet there will be a lot more baking with pumpkin this fall!!!

:)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

We're sloooowly getting into the warmer spring months here in Boston, and this past weekend was one of the best we've had in quite a while weather-wise. What did that make me think of? Ice cream!! I've read many recipes on several blogs for homemade ice cream; however, the trouble is that many of these recipes require an ice cream maker! And that's one kitchen gadget that I don't have (one of very few - I have many kitchen gadgets and appliances, folks!). So, when I recently came across an ice cream recipe that did not require a machine, I was psyched!

You know what else is neat about this ice cream recipe? It's vegan! I personally do not eat vegan, but for anyone out there who does, this is a fabulous recipe. :)

The list of great things about this recipe goes on and on. I just thought of something else. There are only three ingredients to make this ice cream! Yep, you heard me right. Three things. What are they?

~ bananas, peanut butter, cocoa powder ~

Onward!

The recipe can be found here at a site entitled Clean Green Simple. It's such a great site! If you click on the link there, you'll see that she has three recipes actually...berry blend ice cream, peanut butter chocolate ice cream, and butter pecan ice cream. Obviously I made the peanut butter chocolate one. ;-) All three of these recipes are vegan, gluten free, low fat, and sugar free. Neat!


Here's the recipe for easy viewing on my site too:

Ingredients:

-2 bananas, sliced then frozen (note that it says slice then freeze. Doing it the other way around is much more difficult.)

-3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter

-3 Tbsp cocoa powder

-1 tsp agave nectar (optional)

Directions:

Blend bananas, peanut butter and chocolate together in a food processor until smooth. Depending on how frozen your bananas are, it may go through a crumbly phase – just scrape down the sides of the bowl and keep blending and it will smooth out. Add agave nectar to taste. Top with chopped peanuts and chocolate, if desired.

Ewww, black bananas?! Nah, they're just frozen. :)

Cutting up the bananas! It might be easier to cut the bananas prior to freezing them, but I clearly didn't do that... I had these bananas frozen in my freezer for a couple weeks (long before I decided to make this recipe!).

Everything's starting to come together...

I added literally about three drops of honey (maybe 1/2 tsp. total). I don't think it made any difference in the taste, so if you try making this, I think you can omit it. The recipe calls for agave nectar, but I don't have that on hand so I added a touch of honey since they're apparently similar!

I thought it'd be fun to add some toppings, so I toasted a few pecans and some coconut and topped my serving with those. :)

I really enjoyed this "ice cream"!! I'd say its consistency was in between soft ice cream and hard ice cream. It wasn't quite as soft as the soft serve you'd get in a twist cone :), but it also wasn't as hard as the ice cream you'd buy in a half gallon to have in your freezer! The banana flavor was present, FYI. I realize the name of this ice cream is chocolate peanut butter, not chocolate peanut butter banana. It really is the chocolate and peanut butter flavors that dominate though! Mike tried this too, and he really enjoyed it as well. It was so refreshing (literally and figuratively!) to eat something so simple, healthy (for the most part), and delicious. Such a tasty treat! I hope you'll try it! :)