The Best Healthy Pumpkin Ice Cream

Summery cold treat meets favorite fall flavor in this easy and delicious yet nutrient dense ice cream! Follow the conventional instructions or make it a GAPS ice cream; it’s up to you. Either way it is sure to please!

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Fall is not here yet.

As I write, we have just hit August, so fall isn’t even all that close. At least, it is a long way off here in Georgia. We have plenty of summer yet to come, though the school buses are making their rounds again.

In fact, the chilly fall temperatures are too far off to justify thinking about the fall foods we all love. It just isn’t that time yet.

Still, I have started looking forward to fall. Fall is my favorite season! Among other things, all the pumpkin treats are top notch. It is, nonetheless, too soon for pumpkin pie. Well, really, anytime is good for pumpkin pie…

It is not too soon for ice cream…

In fact, now is the perfect time for ice cream! It is still in the 90’s, after all. So, ice cream it is, and pumpkin sounds like a good flavor to adapt to our GAPS-ish life.

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All the more so since the number one pumpkin lover in the house is leaving for college in a couple of weeks. That makes now the perfect time to experiment with summer/fall fusion in the form of pumpkin ice cream! By the time he comes home for Thanksgiving, it will be time for pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin ice cream was a pretty simple thing to figure out. I simply adapted my GAPS vanilla ice cream recipe. In fact, I have a couple of people who do not love all things pumpkin (it turns out, there are such people walking among us). So the first time I tried this I made vanilla ice cream, scooped some out for them, and added pumpkin and spices. It worked!

Don’t worry, though; I made it again the next day to get the measurements right for a full batch. The remaining three of us liked it enough to have it two days in a row. In fact, the second day we polished off the whole batch by ourselves! It is such a low-sugar ice cream that I didn’t even feel bad about it.

How To Make Pumpkin Ice Cream

Start with either raw milk or, if you are doing the GAPS diet, milk kefir or yogurt you have made according to the GAPS protocol. To the milk, add pumpkin, honey, pumpkin pie spice, and a tiny dash of salt. Mix thoroughly in a blender or with a hand mixer.

If you are using raw egg yolks, this is a good time to put them in. GAPSters will know all about the nutritional benefits of adding raw egg yolk. Just be sure to use high quality, pastured eggs! The other benefit of adding raw egg yolk to the ice cream is that it won’t freeze quite as hard so you will be able to scoop it better after it is in the freezer for awhile. If it lasts that long!

Once you have this mixture nice and smooth, add fresh cream or, for GAPS, cultured cream made by the GAPS directions. Blend just enough to make it smooth; not too long or you may get bits of butter and that is worse than it sounds! This is a bigger risk in a powerful blender than using a hand mixer.

Now process the mixture as you normally would in your ice cream maker. I have used this ice cream maker for over 10 years and it is still going strong. If you can score one from a thrift shop, do it! It isn’t there because it is a bad machine– it is easy to use, works well, and has been durable with heavy use.

Then scoop it into a container with a lid to put it in the freezer until you are ready to eat it. If you leave it in the freezer longer than 2-3 hours, it will probably need to soften a bit before you can scoop it, unless you used the egg yolks.

Make Pumpkin Ice Cream Your Way!

• If you aren’t on the GAPS diet, you can use fresh milk and cream. If you are on the GAPS diet, you should choose the cultured versions. It also works fine, if not on GAPS, to do some fresh and some cultured.
• You need to stick to honey for GAPS, but if you aren’t on the GAPS diet, you could substitute another sweetener. Use whatever you usually prefer– sugar will work fine, and maple syrup would be a flavorful twist. Sugar substitutes that normally work in ice cream should be fine, but I haven’t tried any. You might need a bit extra, as honey is sweeter than sugar.
• I used canned pumpkin, even though that isn’t proper GAPS. You could cook down a pumpkin and use that, or even try butternut squash instead.
• If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, try about 3/4 tsp cinnamon plus 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Adjust to your taste; if you want the spices stronger, add a bit more. If you really love one of the spices, increase it a bit. Leave out any you don’t like. The one I use has a hint of lemon peel and cardamom. There is not enough of either to identify the taste, though.
• If dairy is out for you, try using coconut milk. This is almost exactly how I used to make pumpkin ice cream before my son outgrew his milk allergy.
• If you want to spice things up, add some fresh ginger! Not too much… Or add some chocolate shavings after processing for a different twist.

That’s it! Such a quick and simple recipe! What is your favorite pumpkin treat? And do you wait for fall to arrive?

Feeling like ice cream? I have more recipes!

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Banana Split Ice Cream

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