{No-Churn} Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

Posted on December 2, 2014December 29, 2020by wallflourgirl

‘Tis the season to be jolly!

‘Tis the season for being good commercial consumers, voracious listeners of 24/7 holiday music, and hopeless romantics who watch ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas movie marathons while indulging in a giant bowl of homemade pumpkin spice ice cream.

I’m as crazy about the holiday season as the next person. Yes, mass commercialism sucks balls, but unless you’re absolutely determined to be cynical about hot chocolate and fuzzy feelings and hot chocolate and great holiday classics such as Elf or How the Grinch Stole Christmas–and let’s face it, who can be cynical about any of these things?–the holidays rock. Period.

One of my absolute favorite part of the holidays–apart from the food and the movies and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” playing on repeat–is that we get a chance to make up all the things we forgot to do during the other 11 months of the year. This includes small things like gift-giving and thoughtfulness, but it also includes big things like donating clothes to the needy and volunteering at the local soup kitchen. Christmas may have evolved into a corporate sham: but just as “nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent,” the companies have found it impossible to suck the holiday spirit completely dry of its moral prerogative, too.

We all know that one person who gives selflessly and un-self-consciously all year long. Back in college, I had a friend who always stopped for the homeless on the streets. Sometimes he would step out of his way to buy a bag of donuts or a box of takeout and offer that instead of cash, since you don’t need to worry about what someone will do with pre-bought food. He never flinched from a dirty outstretched hand or shied away from a plea for spare change, the way I sometimes do. Having grown up being taught that when a stranger calls for your attention, you quickly avert your eyes and hurry past them as quickly as possible, I still find it difficult to push my discomfort aside and reach into my pocket for whatever coins are jingling there.

Just this past week, C and I went on a mini-adventure around town doing carefree things like spraying our names in fake snow on the store displays (okay, he did that, not me) and sharing my first ever caramel apple. I love hanging out with him because, unlike me, he’s the sort of person who acts like a free spirit without ever doubting what that means.

(On the contrary, I’m the kind of girl who spends an entire night scrubbing herself in the hot shower because she picked up a discarded apron with her thumb and index finger off the sidewalk earlier that day.)

After brunch, C pointed out a (somewhat shady?) alleyway and observed, almost as an afterthought, that it’d be fun to cut through. As we walked side by side down the narrow lane, visions of hidden ax-murderers and festering needles flew through my brain at a million miles per second. Then the dreaded moment came. As we approached the mid-portion of the alley, we passed a disheveled-looking man who was loitering around, wearing a beanie and a rather gruff look on his unkempt face. My hands instinctively tightened and I drew myself closer to C, but then somewhere next to me I heard it: C’s casual greeting–“hey, how’s it going?”–accompanied by a small wave of the hand and the kind of smile you give a familiar acquaintance. To my surprise and infinite relief, the man finally nodded back and said “hello” before trundling off again, minding his own business like I had not learned to mind mine.

It’s funny what small lessons we find hidden in the most unexpected places. Amazing folks like my college friend and C serve as daily reminders about how little gestures can go such a long way–not only in helping others, but in helping ourselves get over the prejudices that keep us from extending that helping hand in the first place.

Though I’m still working on my Giving mojo, never let it be said that I won’t be helping you this holiday season, even if it’s only in the kitchen. If you’re currently experiencing the holiday-time rush and hubbub, this pumpkin spice ice cream recipe (adapted from the wonderful John at Kitchen Riffs) can save the day! It takes minutes to prep and then it’s hands-off, no-churn, no-machine-needed ice cream freezing time. I even folded in chunks of leftover pumpkin pie into my ice cream, which is a good idea and adds just the {pumpkin} spice you need to your holiday potluck repertoire.

I invited a huge group of friends over a while back to help me enjoy this ice cream, along with about 8 dozen cookies I had baked for the occasion. This ice cream was a smash hit, and nobody could believe it was homemade. As bakers, chefs, and sweet-toothed folks, the least we can do during this time of the year is to share the dessert love…because that’s what we do, right?

What about you? What’s your favorite part of the holiday season?

Love,

Ala