October is finally here, my absolute favorite month. The leaves are changing, it’s strangely still warm, we will be bringing in the grapes soon and making wine. And then there is pumpkin food galore. Everywhere. And I’m contributing to it.
I am not the biggest pumpkin pie fan, not because of the taste, but the boring texture. It just needs something. When I was thinking about this recipe, I wanted to add a crunch, inside and out. So I brainstormed (with myself) a bit and decided to make a streusel, which is normally a topping. But I wanted my streusel on the inside. I can be difficult like that.
So what I did was make the streusel, but then I pressed it into a pan and baked it, And when it cooled, I crumbled it, and into the ice cream maker it went.
But since I would never be satisfied with just interior crunch, I needed exterior crunch too. And I wanted that crunch to really complement the warm, brown sugary flavor in the ice cream. So after I scooped the ice cream into cups, I doused sprinkled it with turbinado sugar. And wow, just wow, talk about the crowning touch. This part cannot be skipped.
Brown Sugar Pumpkin Crunch Ice Cream
Ingredients
For the custard:
- 1-1/2 cups whole milk
- 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (Bulgarian if you can)
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
For the streusel:
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons cold butter
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Garnish
- turbinado sugar
Directions
- For the custard, in a medium saucepan, combine milk, cream, buttermilk, pumpkin, sugars and pumpkin pie spice. Heat on low until sides of pan are slightly bubbly and warm, but not boiling. Add 1/4 cup of the milk mixture to the egg yolks and stir quickly, keep adding small amounts of liquid to the eggs until it it the same temperature as what is in the saucepan. Add egg yolk mixture to the saucepan and continue to heat until you can coat the back of a spoon. Do not boil!! Remove from heat and cool, preferably into a pourable bowl. Refrigerate until completely cold, preferably overnight.
- For the streusel, combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans. Coat a 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray. Press mixture into pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are browned. Cool completely and break into pieces. Set aside.
- Churn cream mixture into ice cream, when almost done, pour streusel into machine until mixed. Spoon ice cream into a freezer container. Cover; freeze overnight.
- Serve ice cream sprinkled with turbinado sugar.
This will satisfy all your cravings for pumpkin pie, in fact, it could even replace them! You will love…
Still don’t have an ice cream maker? I have had this one for years and still love it.
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Three Years Ago: Chocolate Croissants
Four Years Ago: Blood Red Punch