Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Wouldn't you know that Edy's (Dreyer's in some parts of the country) changed the vast majority of their flavors last year (including pumpkin) to New! "Fun Flavors!" with whey as the first ingredient? Yes, whey. Not milk, not cream - a processed additive! Mmmm, "Fun!" indeed!

Johnny had a major craving for pumpkin ice cream a few months ago. Since we can't buy a whey-free version at the store, he came up with his own by adapting The Perfect Scoop's sweet potato ice cream recipe to be a pumpkin ice cream recipe!

This was the third or fourth time Johnny made the pumpkin ice cream this year. He usually uses canned pumpkin, but when he made it for Italy Night, he used fresh pumpkin. Wow, let me tell you, it made a WORLD of difference. The canned version tasted a little tinny to me, but Johnny gobbled it up. The fresh version was velvety goodness and I gobbled it up!

15 oz. can of pumpkin (or about 2 cups fresh pumpkin, which I recommend)
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk (we used 1%)
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
a few drops lemon juice (we used the bottled concentrate)

Combine all of the ingredients (except the lemon juice) in a blender and mix for about 30 seconds. It will taste great at this point, but trust me and add just a few drops of lemon juice and re-blend. It should allow all of the other ingredients to just POP and become brighter, not add any citrus qualities.


Freeze in your ice cream maker according to instructions. Serve immediately in a more soft-serve texture, or freeze to serve later! Please note, however, that homemade ice creams freeze "harder" than commercially aerated versions. You'll need to take them out about 5 minutes before scooping.

11 comments:

Ally's Sweet and Savory Eats said...

Thanks SO much for remembering to put up this recipe! Now only if I had an ice cream maker....until then I'll file it away:)

Laura said...

Oh Johnny Thats looks so amazing! Christina isn't it crazy how good real food tastes? I made a real pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving by roasting our homegrown pumpkins and it was so so so good. I won't go back to tinny pumpkin.

Wonder why whey is in the new fun flavors to thicken? What is it used for exactly? I like to make my own anyway, so much better!

Did I tell you guys I met David Lebovitz?

debbie calvino said...

I can still taste that incredible icecream! In fact everything made with the fresh pumpkin--bread & ravioli included. I froze the pumpkin for our long trip to Chicago. I started thinking of freezing pumpkin for the long season when fresh pumkpin is not available. SCARY because I have been scoping out pumpkins I see pushed aside in friends yards now thinking, dare I ask?

A@ Please Don't Eat Me! said...

goooooo johnny go! im not a huge pumpkin fan, but that looks awesome! nicely done!

oh hey i was going to ask you.. does your mom or grandmother have an antique spice cabinet? my mom has one and i was about to make some teriyaki sauce with the crystalized ginger in there last night when i realized... that ginger might have come with the cabinet. YIKES. lol
anyway, since your family has EVERYTHING else mine does.. i figured i would ask .. haha

Allie (Live Laugh Eat) said...

Ahhh another reason why I need an ice cream maker!!! I love Edy's Pumpkin Ice Cream but I haven't had it in probably 2 years?! Supah cravings ovah here!

The Diva on a Diet said...

Wow, this does look and sound amazing! As usual, I'm wishing I had an ice cream maker so I could try this. Perhaps someday!

Christina said...

Laura, it was last year when the economy tanked that Edy's made the change. They're also the smaller, squattier containers, but for the same price as they were before. I guess companies didn't think we'd notice the containers getting smaller moreso than noticing a price going up? Who knows.

Whey can be used for protein supplement or for milk-like qualities in foods. It's also probably a lot cheaper for them to buy whey than quality milk or cream - so adding more to the product would reduce their cost for the same profit.

Jenn@slim-shoppin said...

That's cool that you made a whey free version of ice cream, I never would have thought that would be an ingredient!

I'm also jealous you have an ice cream maker!

Anonymous said...

I may or may not be drooling right now!

I don't buy Edy's anymore, their ice cream has too much junk in it for my taste!

Christo Gonzales said...

aghhhhhhhh - I dont have any frezzer space - not even for my little 2 pint ice cream maker....grrrrrrr.....this sounds so, so good.

Casey @SpicyandSweet said...

Mmm...pumpking ice cream?! Sounds awesome!! I will be trying it! :)