As a blogger, I follow many other blogs, especially food blogs. I noticed that a recent theme among food bloggers has been making foods with “fall flavors.” Even though it is not quite fall in New Orleans (it was 89 degrees today) I decided to jump on the “fall flavors” band wagon. Making something with pumpkin seemed very fall-like to me since seeing pumpkins around the neighborhood tells me that fall has arrived.
I am a big fan of pumpkin. Not only it is very healthy for you (lots of vitamins and such), it tastes good! I like pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies and even pumpkin beer (Dogfish Head Punkin Ale rocks!). I finally settled on making a version of one of my favorite fall desserts – pumpkin pie. I like to enjoy my pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped topping. I also enjoy eating other pumpkin flavored treats, such as a pumpkin bread, with cream cheese icing. Put it all together into a frozen dessert and you get Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream.
This a very simple recipe because it does not require any heating or cooking. It is just a little more work because you need to churn two different ice creams. If you don’t have two freezing canisters, churn one flavor, wait 24 hours for the canister to refreeze (seriously, wait or the ice cream won’t freeze) and then make the second batch. Just let the first ice cream soften before you combine.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart
Pumpkin Ice Cream
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz)
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar (you could also use brown sugar)
Pinch of salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Put all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour into a bowl or small plastic bag and chill mixture thoroughly. After chilled, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Cheesecake Ice Cream
Adpated from recipe by David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop
6 oz. cream cheese
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of a small lemon
Zest lemon directly into the blender and then add remaining ingredients. Puree until smooth. Pour into a bowl or small plastic bag and chill mixture thoroughly. After chilled, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
To combine:
Make sure both ice creams are frozen but soft (similar to the consistency of just churned). Starting with the pumpkin ice cream, alternate layers of ice creams into a separate container. In between layers, make sure to rap the container on the counter to release any air. When complete, cover the container and freeze until solid.
Paige Moore says
Wow it looks delicious. First time I ever read about pumpkin ice cream. Will truly try it. Thanks for sharing you recipe.
John says
You obviously just made Claire’s night. 😛
Amie says
I want to make a pumkin cheesecake ice cream that has pieces of cheese cake (similar to a cookie dough ice cream that you can purchase in any store). can you give me an idea how to do that?
Lindsay says
I have not made ice cream with cheesecake pieces, so I can’t give you an exact recipe. The challenge is getting the cake the right texture in the ice cream rather then frozen bites; for instance cookie dough in ice cream is different then cookie dough you would bake, in order to keep it soft. You could make cheesecake and cut it into small bites, freeze it, then add it to a pumpkin base (like this recipe) as a mix-in but the cake could freeze solid. You may be better off with a recipe like this one to replicate the flavor of pumpkin cheesecake, then mix in graham cracker bits to mimic the crust. Good luck!