Gluten Free: Pumpkin Ice Cream

I feel as though I'm living in a pumpkin patch at the moment. I blame Halloween, suddenly the supermarkets are stocking up on pumpkins for carving and munchkins (those mini pumpkins that are too cute to walk past) for, well, whatever you're meant to do with a munchkin... I may also have purchased a squash box from Riverford with copious culinary aspirations that have come to very little beyond soup and mash. The great thing about squash and pumpkin is that they're just as good in sweet dishes as they are in savoury ones (think pumpkin pie) so I'm branching out with my gourd recipes. 

Even in sub-zero temperatures, ice cream is a winning dessert. My family have been known to eat the stuff in gale force winds and rain, because nothing can spoil the enjoyment of a pokey hat (that's an ice cream cone, by the way), except maybe rum and raisin. This super-easy pumpkin ice cream is basically frozen pumpkin pie and all the gorgeous warming spices make this a truly autumnal ice cream. It's also (probably) one of your five a day.

You'll need:

• 300g-ish sugar pie pumpkin or butternut squash, cut into 3cm cubes and roasted for 25-30 minutes
• a 500g tub of custard, try to find one with lots of vanilla
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp black treacle, or golden syrup if you don't have treacle

Make it!

• Put all of the ingredients in to a blender and pulse until smooth. Pour into a shallow roasting tin, or plastic container and pop into the freezer (if there's space in the quick-freeze compartment, use that).
• Every hour, remove the ice cream and whisk really well to mix the frozen parts into to not-yet-frozen parts and break down the ice crystals. It should take about 4 hours to completely freeze. Transfer to a lidded container, you can keep it in the freezer for about 3 months - if it lasts that long!
• If you have an ice cream maker, just transfer the blended mixture into the bowl of the ice cream maker and churn until set.

Pour a tablespoon of rum over a few scoops (everything is better with rum) and crumble a gluten free ginger biscuit (I like Kent & Fraser's Spicy Ginger Cookies) over the top and enjoy a bowlful while you write your letter to the Great Pumpkin.