Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

4 cups half and half

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

7.5 oz pumpkin puree

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

In a medium saucepan, combine half and half, heavy cream, sugar and brown sugar. Bring to 170 degrees F to dissolve sugar then let cool at room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator overnight. In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix to combine and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, take both the pumpkin and ice cream base mixtures out. Add some of the ice cream base to the pumpkin and mix well to loosen it up. Then mix both the ice cream base and pumpkin together. Freeze in your ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately or freeze for 2 hours until solid.

Pumpkin pancakes

2 cups flour

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1 3/4 cups milk

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 cup vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine flour and all other dry ingredients. In a second bowl, combine milk and remaining ingredients. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until slightly lumpy.

Heat a lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto griddle. Cook until golden brown, turn when tops are bubbly and edges are slightly dry. Makes 16 pancakes.

Rookie's Notes: I like mine with maple syrup. Jack prefers powdered sugar. And Van prefers a 6 oz. bottle of Good Start.

Recipes- Pumpkin Churros

There is this blog I used to follow called Rookie Cookie, I loved looking at her recipes and she always had great ideas. Than she decided to be done and stopped updating her blog but kept it up so you could still see the recipes. Now she is taking down her blog in the next 2 weeks so I have been copying and pasting recipes into a file so I can still look at them. Until I got the brilliant idea to post them on here- A) so we can all see them and B)so it looks like I am a great poster and cook ( I do cook but never have a recipe or picture to post). So if you are all ok with that I will just start posting some as I have time and as they sound good.

So here is the first one I wanted to post since it is fall and there is nothing better in fall than baking with pumpkin.

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cups water

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

4 eggs

Oil for frying

In a medium bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside for tossing the finished churros in cinnamon sugar. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Whisk to combine and set aside. Pour vegetable oil into a large pot fitted with a clip on thermometer, having the oil come 2 inches up the side of the pan.

In a medium pan over high heat, add the water and shortening. Bring to a boil. Pour in the flour mixture and stir quickly with a wooden spoon until a ball forms. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. With a hand mixer, stir in the pumpkin and eggs until smooth. With a rubber scraper, put the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Fry the churros at 325 degrees. Pipe the dough into the hot oil, using scissors to cut each churro. Fry until the outside is browned and the inside is slightly cooked, but still soft, about 5 minutes. Once the churros come out of the oil and let drain on paper towels. Transfer the churros to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and toss gently until coated. Serve warm.

Rookie's Notes: When I say cut each churro with a pair of scissors, I want you to have the pastry bag in one hand and scissors in the other. Apply pressure to the bag and start piping the dough in. Continuously pipe and use your other hand to cut each churro as you go.