Friday, October 15, 2004
I've been experimenting with pumpkin ice cream recipes. Finally got one I really like. I will like it even better when I get around to buying a real pumpkin; they're so easy to cook in the microwave! I used to have to use a pressure cooker to cook pumpkin, and frankly, I've never been real comfortable with the pressure cooker even though I used it for 20 years. Cooking pumpkin in the microwave wasn't feasible until microwave ovens got larger and stronger, about 10 years ago.
1 can solid-pack pumpkin (not pie filling), 15 or 16 ounces
1/2 can almond pie filling, or about 4 ounces of marzipan, softened
1/2 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (mixed cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and a bit of cloves)
3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar or Splenda (sucralose)
1 and 1/2 cans evaporated milk (use evaporated skim milk for a really low-fat treat!!)
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl - use a mixer or an egg beater - until the consistency is fairly smooth and doesn't have many lumps left, and it's all a nice burnt-orange color. Freeze in a half-gallon ice cream maker - I use the Donvier hand-cranked kind, and there's a similar Nordic-Ware hand-cranked maker, or you can use a counter-top electric ice cream maker. Whatever you use, it should have a capacity of about 1/2 gallon. After running the ice cream maker for the recommended time in its instructions, remove ice cream to a storage bowl, cover, and freeze for another hour in your freezer, to make it firm enough to scoop.
Optional: you can do any or all of the following:
add 1/3 cup chopped pecans
Substitute a tablespoon of maple syrup for 2 tablespoons of the sugar
If you don't like almonds, substitute a small banana for the almond pie filling - peel the banana and nuke it for 30 seconds to soften it, then puree it in a food processor and mix with the other stuff in the mixing bowl.
If you want to cook fresh pumpkin for this, here's how: slice an American Pie pumpkin or a Sugar pumpkin (NOT a Halloween jack-o-lantern type pumpkin) in half. Scoop out all the seeds. Then slice each half into eighths, cutting out the stem as you go around it. Do NOT peel the pumpkin yet!! Nuke the pumpkin 4 or 6 pieces at a time on a plate - arrange them in a ring around the outside edge of the plate, don't pile them up -, until soft enough to stick a fork in easily. This could be anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes, depending on your microwave and the size of your pieces - start with 2 minutes, if it's still hard, try another 1.5 minutes, and then another 1.5 minutes.
Rinse the cooked pumpkin under cold water to cool it off a bit. Then scrape the pulp right off the rind with a spoon - you should be able to push the soft pumpkin with very little effort. In a blender or a food processor, puree the pumpkin - it doesn't have to be completely liquid, just a fairly soft texture, like chunky applesauce. Use 16 ounces of it in the above ice cream recipe, or make pumpkin bread; if you have lots of cooked pumpkin, freeze it in 1-cup covered containers - if they're sealed well, the frozen pumpkin will be good for about 3-4 months. (After that, too many ice crystals form, and the texture decreases in quality.) Defrost pumpkin in refrigerator overnight, or in your microwave on low power.
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl - use a mixer or an egg beater - until the consistency is fairly smooth and doesn't have many lumps left, and it's all a nice burnt-orange color. Freeze in a half-gallon ice cream maker - I use the Donvier hand-cranked kind, and there's a similar Nordic-Ware hand-cranked maker, or you can use a counter-top electric ice cream maker. Whatever you use, it should have a capacity of about 1/2 gallon. After running the ice cream maker for the recommended time in its instructions, remove ice cream to a storage bowl, cover, and freeze for another hour in your freezer, to make it firm enough to scoop.
Optional: you can do any or all of the following:
If you want to cook fresh pumpkin for this, here's how: slice an American Pie pumpkin or a Sugar pumpkin (NOT a Halloween jack-o-lantern type pumpkin) in half. Scoop out all the seeds. Then slice each half into eighths, cutting out the stem as you go around it. Do NOT peel the pumpkin yet!! Nuke the pumpkin 4 or 6 pieces at a time on a plate - arrange them in a ring around the outside edge of the plate, don't pile them up -, until soft enough to stick a fork in easily. This could be anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes, depending on your microwave and the size of your pieces - start with 2 minutes, if it's still hard, try another 1.5 minutes, and then another 1.5 minutes.
Rinse the cooked pumpkin under cold water to cool it off a bit. Then scrape the pulp right off the rind with a spoon - you should be able to push the soft pumpkin with very little effort. In a blender or a food processor, puree the pumpkin - it doesn't have to be completely liquid, just a fairly soft texture, like chunky applesauce. Use 16 ounces of it in the above ice cream recipe, or make pumpkin bread; if you have lots of cooked pumpkin, freeze it in 1-cup covered containers - if they're sealed well, the frozen pumpkin will be good for about 3-4 months. (After that, too many ice crystals form, and the texture decreases in quality.) Defrost pumpkin in refrigerator overnight, or in your microwave on low power.
