The Frost is on the Pumpkin

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here –
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock –
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
-James Whitcomb Riley

I'm not what I'd call "creative" cook. Any more than I'm a creative writer. In both I'm more of an editor - I can do a decent job of correcting prose, and over the past 23 years of daily cooking, I've developed a working ability to read and change a recipe. Or combine a few different recipes. I don't have the knack for starting from scratch and whipping up a whole new dish. But this week was different!

Faced with a half can of pumpkin after making my TWD pumpkin muffins, I was inspired to make a batch of pumpkin frozen yogurt - with no recipe in sight - and this time it just turned out. My ice cream freezer is new*, and my previous attempts at frozen yogurt were spotty. But this yogurt was really tasty!

Pumpkin Rum Raisin Frozen Yogurt

1 cup pumpkin
6 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch cloves
pinch allspice
hand full of raisins
1/4 cup rum

Mix ingredients through the spices in a mixing bowl. Chill for an hour, then churn in an ice cream maker.

Heat the rum in the microwave and pour over the raisins in a small bowl. When the churning is nearly finished, add the raisins - and 2 tsp of the rum - into the ice cream maker.

the verdict:

This made for a very creamy pumpkin and spice frozen yogurt. We loved it! I'm wondering about using evaporated milk next time, and sweetening with maple or brown sugar. So many possibilities!

*The ice cream freezer saga may be posted at a future date. . .