Pumpkin Ice Cream is the best unexpected treat of Fall
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Pumpkin ice cream is the gorgeous light orange cinnamon spiced frozen treat you can make in 5 minutes.
With all the pies that will be made for Thanksgiving, I was trying to think of a Fall ice cream that you can make in almost no time. Everybody needs all the shortcuts and quick things possible for Turkey Day, and this is a winner for sure.
While a scoop of vanilla on your pie is great, why not add more Fall flavor? My first choice for ice cream on pie will always be cinnamon ice cream, but I wanted to add the creaminess of pumpkin with a theory that I’ve been developing about no-churn ice cream.
5 minute Pumpkin Ice Cream
Why you’ll love pumpkin ice cream
- Pie Time: Thanksgiving is around the corner, and there’s nothing nicer than a scoop of cold ice cream melting down into a warm piece of pie or apple crumble bars.
- 5 minutes: When I say it takes 5 minutes to put your ice cream together, I mean it. Shoot, I dropped my mixer bowl on my floor and had to make a second batch and I still clocked in at under 10 minutes for 2 batches! That’s a time-saver I’ll take.
- So pretty: I love natural colors for their subtle beauty, and pumpkin is one of the true Queens of Fall loveliness. The subtle orange of this ice cream will be gorgeous with any dessert you add it to.
Pumpkin Ice Cream ingredients
- Heavy cream
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Canned pumpkin
- Vanilla extract
- Mini marshmallows: for stabilizing the whipped cream like for my whipped cream frosting
- Amaretti cookies: optional, but awesome, see note below
I can’t find amaretti, can I use something else?
If you’ve never had them, amaretti are the bitter-almond flavored cookies from Italy. It’s pretty common in Italy to combine pumpkin and amaretti. Once you’ve tasted the combination, you’ll understand why. In the ice cream they add that same complex flavor with some delightful crunch.
But I get it, you may not find them in your grocery shelves. I periodically come across them in places like Home Goods or my local market, and I hoard them because they’re so tasty. If you have a European goods market, you might be able to find them there. I won’t link to them from Amazon because they’re overpriced there.
If you can’t find them, you could leave them out or use one of the following substitutes:
- Graham Crackers: Bake a sleeve of graham crackers at 350 for 8 minutes to toast them up and dry them out just a little. This will taste a little more like pumpkin pie.
- Gingersnaps: use these exactly as you would the amaretti. The flavor will still be great!
Why stabilizing the whipped cream makes better ice cream
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. As much as I like making no-churn ice creams, I’ve always been annoyed at how the whipped cream can potentially lose volume when you drizzle in the sweetened condensed milk.
You can counter this by chilling the cream, the bowl, and the whip before making your ice cream as I recommend in all my previous ice cream recipes.
Something I’ve noticed making stabilized whipped cream is that it doesn’t matter if anything is chilled. The cream whips up perfectly every time and the cream holds its shape for much much longer than standard whipped cream.
Would that prevent the cream from losing volume when you add in the other ingredients?
The answer is yes! What that means is that you get a lighter, more airy ice cream with just 30 seconds extra time.
Things to serve with pumpkin ice cream
- Apple Crumble Bars
- Nutella Palmiers
- Classic Palmiers
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodles: for ultimate ice cream sandwiches
Pumpkin Ice Cream
- Total Time: 8 hours, 5 minutes (includes freezing time)
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
Description
You’ll love this charming pastel orange ice cream with a little pumpkin spice that you can make in just 5 minutes to add to all manner of Fall desserts to make them even more awesome.
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (472 mL)
- 1 Tablespoon mini marshmallows
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (180 g)
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (414 mL)
- 4 oz amaretti cookies (optional)
Instructions
How to make pumpkin ice cream
- Line a loaf pan with a piece of parchment.
- Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and fit your mixer with a whip attachment. Melt the marshmallows in the microwave until they are puffed but not hard or caramelized. This will take about 30 seconds.
- Whip the cream until it holds its shape.
- Meanwhile, whisk the sweetened condensed milk with the pumpkin, vanilla extract and pumpkin pie spice.
- When the cream is holding stiff peaks, drizzle in the pumpkin mixture down the side of the bowl.
Use a baking spatula to fold the two mixtures together until the color is no longer streaky.
- Pour a little of the ice cream into the loaf pan and then top it with some of the crushed cookies.
Make two more layers of ice cream and cookies, ending with cookies on top. Cover the top of the pan with a layer of plastic wrap.
- Freeze overnight or about 8 hours. Ice cream is best eaten up within about 2 weeks.
- If you’d like, transfer the ice cream to a freezable lidded container like a Pyrex or one of Tavolo’s ice cream tubs for longer keeping.
Notes
Graham Crackers: for a pumpkin pie tasting ice cream, toast a sleeve of graham crackers in a 350F oven for about 8 minutes. Break up the crackers into coarse pieces and use them in place of either of the cookies.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Ice Cream
- Method: Freezer
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 80
- Sugar: 4.4 g
- Sodium: 18.3 mg
- Fat: 5.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 6.3 g
- Protein: 0.9 g
- Cholesterol: 17.8 mg
