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For the past three days, it has been hard to believe that it is November. I am not trying to make you feel bad if you live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, but we have been wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts. It is even warm enough for my kids to be asking for ice cream when they come home from school in the afternoons!

So, today seemed the perfect day to make my friend Brian’s Pumpkin Ginger Ice Cream. At first glance, the steps for the recipe seem a little cumbersome. I am a good cook, but I am a lazy cook. So most of the ice creams that I make at home don’t usually involve making custard in advance. But truth be told, this recipe may indeed have turned me into a convert. Since I am confessing here, now would be a good time to mention that I used canned pumpkin instead of fresh…and pumpkin pie spice as a substitution for the mixture of spices on the spiced pumpkin seeds. My cloves were just too old to risk using on this piece of ice cream heaven.

Pumpkin-Ginger Ice Cream with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

For the seeds:
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds or pepitos
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 Tbs water
1 Tbs butter
1 tsp dark brown sugar

For the ice cream:
1.5 cups milk
1.5 cups heavy cream
7 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
15 oz canned pumpkin or 1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

For the Seeds:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 2 minutes, turn the sheet 180 degrees and bake for 2 more minutes. The seeds should begin to pop. Remove the seeds and cool them to room temperature.
2. Mix the white sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the water, brown sugar, and butter. Heat over medium heat until all ingredients are incorporated. Add the cooled seeds. Stir so that the seeds are completely covered, there should be almost no liquid left in the saucepan after the seeds are mixed in.
4. Mix the wet seeds in the bowl with the sugar mixture. Toss so everything is well coated.
5. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet to cool until room temperature. Wrap the seeds in an airtight container once cool.

For the Ice Cream:

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with three layers of paper towels. Spread the pumpkin across the towels in a thin layer. Place another three layers of paper towels on top of the pumpkin and press down with your hands. You will see the paper towels turn orange as the water is absorbed. When you are finished, remove the top layers of towels. Scrape the pumpkin off of the bottom layers. You won’t get all of the water, but the towels should be completely orange and wet.
2. Put the milk and cream and 1/2 cup of the sugar into a pot and bring to a slight simmer stirring occasionally.
3. As the milk and cream are heating, place the egg yolks and whole egg into a bowl with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, powdered ginger, and salt and beat until the ingredients are incorporated.
4. Once the milk/cream mixture is slightly simmering, remove it from the heat and temper the egg mixture by adding a small amount of the hot milk/cream and stirring thoroughly. Repeat this process a couple of more times to ensure that the eggs have warmed up. You should use about 1/3 of a cup of hot cream mixture in total. Then pour the complete egg mixture into the cream pot.
5. Return the pot to the heat and stir constantly until the custard reaches 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Remove the cooked custard pot from the heat. Strain through a sieve into a large bowl.
7. Stir in the pumpkin and the vanilla. A whisk works well for this.
8. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill overnight or at least 4 hours.
9. Freeze in your ice cream machine. Add the seeds during the last minute of freezing.

Brian Carmel, The Ice Cream Fellow