Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Ice Cream

For our Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to make a pumpkin pie, which has become my 'thing' to make, with cinnamon ice cream. I was inspired to make the ice cream by a local restaurant, where Kimberly got pumpkin pancakes topped with cinnamon whip cream; Kimberly's mom also has a hand-crank ice cream maker, which you need to make ice cream.

I used a pumpkin pie recipe that I've used for the past 4 years and has proven to be a winner. Its best with real, mashed pumpkin, but I'm lazy and used canned pumpkin this year. I also use store bought crust because, again, I'm lazy, and par baked it before adding the filling. I baked it for 10 minutes with beans (to keep the crust from bubbling) then for another 5 without. After it cooled, I filled with the pumpkin mixture and baked. It took a little over an hour. The pie came out great, but the crust was a little over cooked. I like it when the top of the pie cracks, but it didn't this year.

As for the ice cream, this was my first foray into ice cream making , so I pretty much followed the recipe, except that I added a cinnamon stick while the mixture was cooling. I let it cool overnight in the fridge. And it doesn't say in the recipe, but I added the heavy cream right before churning.

I have to say, the ice cream came out pretty awesome. The cinnamon went perfect with the pie. It was smooth, soft, and creamy. Overall, an excellent decision. I will definitely make more ice cream in the future.

I think the combo worked really well and I think it went over well with the crowd. Unfortunately, there was Marionberry Jesus pie, which is maybe the best thing you can have for Thanksgiving dessert, so the pumpkin pie was overshadowed. But the ice cream was still popular.

Notes and Next Time

• I've made the pie a few times, and I really like it. I have messed with the ratio of white to brown sugar in the past. going anywhere between all white to 1/2:1/2. I haven't ever taken notes, but I think the 1/2 white: 1/2 brown ratio makes the best pie.
• I didn't do it this year, as I was feeling lazy, but cooking and mashing my own pumpkin definitely makes the best pie. I did that the first time I made this recipe and it was by far the best.
• The crust was overcooked. I think just the initial 10 minute par bake would have been fine. Or covering the outside crust with tin foil would have been better.
  
• The vanilla bean was awesome. I will use it as much as I can in the future.
• Using the cinnamon stick was also a nice touch. I think I should have used it from the start, and maybe used less ground. If I cooked both types, I think it may be strong. However, as I did it, it was excellent, so maybe the ground and stick method was good.

Ingredients/Recipe

Pumpkin Pie - I found this a long time ago on-line somewhere, but I don't remember where. My mom uses it as well.

• 2 c. cooked and mashed pumpkin
• 1 c. sugar (I have tried 1/2 c white and 1/2 c. brown sugar in the past)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 eggs (beaten)
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 T vanilla
• 1+ t nutmeg
• 1+ t Cinnamon
• 1/2 t fresh lemon juice

Mix ingredients well and pour in pie crust.
cook ~ 1 hour @ 350 until the mix stops jiggling.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

I pretty much used this from foodnetwork.com, but modified it slightly with this from epicurious.com, as above.