Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream (Ninja Creami, Ice Cream Program)

Pumpkin puree is mostly water, so the trick with pumpkin ice cream is keeping fat and solids high enough that the extra water freezes as small crystals: three quarters of a cup of heavy cream and a tablespoon of cream cheese supply fat and protein, and a third of a cup of brown sugar lowers the freezing point while adding the molasses note that reads as pumpkin pie. Half a cup of puree is the most the base takes before it turns icy. We tested it on the Ninja Creami NC351 in a 16 oz pint, frozen 24 hours at 0 F, and the 142 second Ice Cream cycle gave a scoopable pint with zero re-spins. Each serving is an estimated 270 kcal, 3 g protein, 22 g carbs and 19 g fat.

Tested recipe

Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

A smooth pumpkin pie flavored ice cream with real pumpkin puree, brown sugar and warm spices that needs no re-spin on the Ice Cream program.

Ice CreamNC3510 re-spins

Prep

10 min

Freeze

24 h

Process

3 min

Total

24 h 13 min

Servings

4 per pint

16 oz pint24 oz XL tub

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180 g) whole milk
• 1/3 cup (67 g) light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tbsp (15 g) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (120 g) canned pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup (180 g) heavy cream
• 1 tsp (2 g) pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp (2 g) vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp fine salt

Equipment

• Ninja Creami NC351
• 16 oz Creami pint

Method

1. Microwave the milk and brown sugar for 45 seconds and whisk until the sugar dissolves.
2. Whisk in the softened cream cheese until smooth.
3. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt.
4. Stir in the heavy cream.
5. Pour the base into the pint, stopping at the max fill line.
6. Lid the pint and freeze it for 24 hours on a level surface.
7. Lock the frozen pint into the outer bowl, fit it to the machine and press Ice Cream.
8. Scoop, or press Re-spin once if the top is crumbly, then level, lid and refreeze.

Nutrition per serving (estimated)

Calories

270 kcal

Protein

3 g

Carbs

22 g

Fat

19 g

Program: Ice Cream · Tested on NC351 · By Mike Lala

Tips

• Freeze the pint on a flat shelf. A pumpkin base is thicker than a plain cream base and holds whatever shape it froze in, so a tilted pint produces a tilted block that the paddle processes unevenly.
• Use canned puree, not fresh roasted pumpkin, unless you drain the fresh pumpkin in a sieve for an hour. Fresh puree carried enough extra water to drop our texture score to 3.
• If the top is crumbly after the first spin, press Re-spin once (70 seconds on the NC351). Only before a second re-spin add 1 tbsp of whole milk. Our standard pint needed neither, but a pint from a freezer at minus 8 F needed one; the how long to freeze guide covers freezer temperature.
• Dissolve the brown sugar in warm milk first. Undissolved brown sugar settled to the bottom of the pint and left a sweet, gritty base layer in our cold-mixed test.
• Grind the spice fresh if you can, or at least check the jar is less than a year old. Stale pumpkin pie spice tasted of dust once frozen, and the cold mutes spice flavors in any case.

Variations

• Maple pecan pumpkin: swap the brown sugar for 1/4 cup (80 g) of maple syrup and run the Mix-In program with 1/4 cup of toasted pecans.
• Pumpkin cheesecake: raise the cream cheese to 3 tbsp (45 g) and add 1 tbsp (15 g) of lemon juice for a tangy version close to our cottage cheese vanilla ice cream in texture.
• Chai pumpkin: replace the pumpkin pie spice with 1 tsp of chai spice blend and steep one black tea bag in the warm milk for 3 minutes.

Storage and refreeze

Press the remaining ice cream flat with the back of a spoon, lid the pint and return it to a level shelf at 0 F for a full 24 hours. Pumpkin bases refreeze slightly harder than plain cream bases because the puree holds water, so on the second spin run Ice Cream and then one Re-spin if the top is crumbly. We refroze the test pint three times over ten days: the texture score held at 5 for the first two refreezes and dropped to 4 on the third, with faint iciness at the very edge. The flavor deepened over the first two days as the spices bloomed. Keep the pint lidded, since the pumpkin base picks up freezer odors faster than vanilla.

The model and pints we used

We made this in the original 16 oz pints shipped with the NC351, which fit the NC301 and NC299AMZ but not the Deluxe or Scoop and Swirl; the 2-pack and 4-pack are on the pints page. The NC351 measured 82 dB at 1 m, the quietest of the six machines we tested. The cream, sugar and puree limits this recipe follows are in the base ratios cheat sheet, and our other autumn and holiday bases are in the seasonal hub.

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