Roasted Pumpkin 5-Spice Ice Cream

I love pumpkin ice cream. Other pumpkin flavors don't really turn me on, although I do like a slice of pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie every so often. This recipe is not sweet, but has wonderful, rich pumpkin flavor. The 5-Spice gives it just the right touch of spice. I garnished a scoop with chopped pecans and a drizzle of our honey.

 I decided to make Jeni's Roasted Pumpkin 5-Spice Ice Cream last weekend. I had what I thought was a Kabocha pumpkin. I apparently didn't! It must have been a Pie pumpkin - lots of dark orange meat with a very dark orange skin. I roasted it and had plenty for the ice cream. The base is very different from the other ice creams, so I will list all the ingredients here:

1 small pie pumpkin, Kabocha, or other dark, savory squash 

2 cups whole milk 1 T plus 1 tsp. cornstarch

1-1/4 c. heavy cream 

1-1/2 oz. cream cheese, softened 

1/4 tsp. fine sea salt 

1/4 c. honey 

2/3 c. packed light brown sugar 

2 T. light corn syrup 

1 T. Chinese 5-spice powder 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and membranes. Place cut side down on a bakin sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes, until soft when pierced with a fork. Let cool slightly. Scoop the flesh into a food processor and puree until completely smooth. It should not be watery; if is is, let sit in a sieve for an hour or until it is thick like that that comes in a can.

Measure out 3/4 cup for the ice cream and reserve the rest for another use. Mix about 2 T of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth and add the pumpkin puree and the honey and whisk until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Heat the milk and cream on low heat. Add the brown sugar, light corn syrup, turn up the heat to medium and bring to a boil, stirring so that it does not burn for four minutes. Turn off heat or remove pan from electric burner. Add the Chinese 5-Spice powder and stir. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and stir until dissolved. Boil for one more minute. Take off heat. Take one cup of the hot custard and stir with the pumpkin, honey, cream cheese/salt. If it is lumpy, use an immersion blender and add another cup of custard. Stir all together and pour into a cold pan that sits in the large bowl with ice water. Cool for about an hour. Process as ice cream.