Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

A quick thought experiment for you: what do you think of when you think about pumpkin spice?

Cinnamon? Nutmeg?

Vanilla probably. Maybe clove or allspice. And of course there's the most common word association: "latte."

I took an informal survey asking this very same questions, and out of half a dozen responses to the question above, only one included the word "pumpkin." And that's understandable, because most pumpkin-flavored seasonal things we get this time of year are pretty light on actual pumpkin, favoring a heavy hand with cheap spices and sugar. Even Starbucks employees seem a little confused about what goes into one of their pumpkin spice lattes. (Hint: not pumpkin.)

But like any ingredient, pumpkin is a beautiful thing when treated right. Which is why I make a new pumpkin ice cream recipe every year, and it's always lapped up in a hurry. I've gathered three pumpkin ice creams worth making this season, each with its own merits. In addition to this pure pumpkin spice treat, I also created a pumpkin pie version and a brownie-studded pumpkin ice cream. But first, some general tips:

• The pumpkin: I like making my own pumpkin purée when I can, but the canned stuff works well enough in ice cream. Just stick to plain, unflavored pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling.
• The spices: Go light! Used properly, fresh spices go a long way, and you don't need much to add plenty of flavor to your pumpkin. Unless you have a serious, serious thing for pumpkin spice-bombs, try letting the pumpkin's flavor speak for itself. Darker sugars, like brown or raw sugar, and spirits like bourbon or rum are other, more interesting ways to add nuance to your pumpkin.
• The ice cream: Pumpkin purée feels creamy, but its low-fat, high-water content is trouble for ice cream. So don't try skimping on the cream and eggs in these recipes—you need a good amount of fat to keep them soft. For similar reasons, let your pumpkin ice cream sit on the counter for a couple minutes before serving and you'll be rewarded with neater, creamier scoops.
  

This ice cream starts with an extra custardy vanilla bean base, adding cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg, dark brown sugar, and topping it off with a wee nip of bourbon. It has deep, creamy, spicy flavor, but the dominant flavor remains fresh pumpkin perfumed with vanilla. It tastes like a better, more homemade version of that Starbucks pumpkin spice latte—minus the coffee, which, let's face it, is pretty incidental anyway.