Recipe: Pumpkin Eggnog Ice Cream

We have some of the best friends ever, Chris and Emily Scanlon, who gave us a Cuisinart ice cream maker for Christmas last year. For reasons beyond our control, we didn't get to start experimenting with it until a couple of months ago. We have made vanilla bean, french vanilla, sweet cream, salted caramel, and now I tried a recipe combining my two favorite flavors: pumpkin and eggnog! It is creamy, rich, and perfect for fall!

Pumpkin Eggnog Ice Cream 

yields about 1 quart

Ingredients 

• 1- 3/4 cup of pumpkin eggnog
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 large eggs

Directions

• Mix cream, eggnog, and milk in a saucepan over a medium-low heat.
• In a small bowl, beat the eggs vigorously until combined and turn lighter in color.

Mixing eggs

• Then slowly, very slowly, add in the sugar to eggs 1/4 cup at a time while mixing. I use a hand-mixer. After it is incorporated, mix for another minute or two. The mixture will become light and a pale yellow. 

Adding sugar slowly

• Meanwhile, using a thermometer, continue mixing and heat the cream-eggnog-milk mixture to 140º F/60ºC. Remove from heat. 
• It's tempering time! Gradually stir in a small amount of the cream-eggnog-milk mixture about 1/4 cup into the egg mixture. Incorporate it thoroughly and continue adding about 1/4 cup until you have incorporated about 1/3 of your cream-eggnog-milk mixture. Now add this tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan holding the cream-eggnog-milk mixture.
• Return the saucepan to the stove. Heat over medium-low heat until reaching the pasteurizing temperature 175ºF for 25 seconds. Keep an eye on it and continue stirring to prevent burning or a skin from forming.
• Pour the mixture through a sieve immediately into a double-bowl chilling process. (Place a bowl in a larger bowl filled partially with ice and water.) 

double-bowl chilling with sieve

• Cool the mixture to room temperature. 

Chilling the ice cream mixture.

• While keeping the bowls together, use plastic wrap to cover the mixture placing the wrap directly on the ice cream mixture to prevent a skin from forming. Put the bowls into the fridge for at least two and a half hours.
• Now place the ice cream mixture into your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Make sure if your machine has a removable compartment that can be frozen, it is frozen! Or if your machine has a built-in freezer, you turn it on. Either way, the goal is to freeze your mixture as quickly as possible. Faster freezing = smaller ice crystals = smoother ice cream!                              

About to go in the freezer!              

• After about 25-30 minutes of churning, check the consistency of the ice cream. It should be smooth and beginning to be thick, with very little liquid. Put it immediately into a freezer-safe container and into the freezer for at least 3 hours!

Enjoy!