Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

It's fallllllllll. With a million "L's" - my favorite time of year!

It goes without saying that this is the time of year for pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread.... well, pumpkin anything. But just to set the record straight, I am not a big fan of the ubiquitous "pumpkin spice" lattes and coffees that some people anxiously wait all year for - they don't taste like pumpkin (but then, why should they, they don't actually have pumpkin in them) and they leave a fake, odd aftertaste in my mouth.

Call me a purist, but I like my pumpkin goodies to actually taste like... pumpkin.

So yesterday afternoon, when I was enjoying an unusually warm 70 degree October day and was wishing for something (anything, really) pumpkin-y and delicious, I decided I would make pumpkin ice cream.

The recipe itself is super simple, with just a handful of ingredients, and because it is made with coconut milk and cream instead of dairy, it's vegan, but still creamy and delicious. Brown sugar provides just a hint of caramel taste, and when combined with pumpkin puree and spices, makes this cool treat taste just like pumpkin pie.

A couple things to note about the ingredients and recipe - because pumpkin has a high water content, I chose to use coconut cream in addition to just coconut milk, to keep the ice cream from getting too hard. I also love using vanilla bean powder, which adds great vanilla flavor, and beautiful, natural vanilla flecks in your ice cream, but you can use regular old vanilla extract if that's what you have on hand. I also added in about a cup of crumbled maple stroopwafel cookie pieces, to make it extra yummy - they taste like pie crust pieces - but you could replace them with your choice of soft cookie pieces, or omit them entirely. And lastly, this ice cream freezes pretty hard - you may want to let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes or so before scooping.

VEGAN PUMPKIN PIE ICE CREAM

1 can of full-fat coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1 can of coconut cream (5.4 oz)
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2  teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
Optional: 1 cup of maple stroopwafel cookies (or your choice of soft cookie), broken into pieces

Combine all ingredients in a blender and and blend until smooth. Chill in fridge for one hour, then pour into ice cream machine and make according to manufacturers instructions. Once ice cream gets to soft serve consistency, stir in your cookie pieces. Ice cream be eaten at this point at soft serve consistency, or place into a chilled container and frozen for 3-4 hours for a more traditional hard ice cream.