FOODIE FRIDAYS: THE PUMPKIN SPICE ICE CREAM PIE: Guest post by Meri Allen

Welcome to Foodie Fridays where your favorite mystery writers post about food, often with a recipe! Today's guest is Meri Allen aka Shari Randall. I can't wait to make the latest in this series.

Meri Allen: THE PUMPKIN SPICE ICE CREAM PIE

Nights are getting cooler, leaves are starting to turn, and what’s that delicious scent? Pumpkin spice? 

Love it or hate it, pumpkin spice ice cream is a running joke in my latest ice cream shop mystery, MINT CHOCOLATE MURDER. It’s a joke because if my main character Riley Rhodes didn’t laugh, she’d cry. She and her staff at the Udderly Delicious Ice Cream shop spend hours making pumpkin spice ice cream. What can I say? Pumpkin spice ice cream is delicious and it’s a perfect flavor for a mystery set in September, the month when summer mellows into fall.

It's expected that a culinary cozy mystery will include recipes. Eating the same dish your favorite character eats is a terrific way to enter into the world of a book. Besides, it seems cruel to describe a fabulous dessert without giving readers a way to enjoy it in real life. Many readers have told me they make a recipe from the book to serve during book club meetings, giving friends another way to experience a story.

But making ice cream requires equipment so I’ve made a point to develop a few no-churn recipes for readers who don’t have ice cream makers. This no-churn pumpkin spice ice cream recipe is perfect for those who can’t get enough of that favorite fall flavor. I like to serve it in a pie drizzled with caramel sauce as my friend Kim Davis does in the photo.

No Churn Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

No ice cream maker? No problem! I’m a bit skeptical of no-churn recipes, but I experimented and came up with one that worked like a charm. This delicious, fall-inspired ice cream is easy to make and even easier to eat.

This ice cream makes a wonderful accompaniment for any spice cake or you can use it as a delicious filling for an ice cream pie. Just fill your favorite pie shell and let it firm up in the freezer for six hours, drizzle with caramel sauce and a sprinkling of your favorite nuts before serving.

Ingredients

·   1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

·   3/4 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree

·   1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·   1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·   1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

·   1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·   Pinch of cloves

·   1/2 teaspoon salt

·   4 tablespoons plain yogurt (I like Greek or Icelandic) at room temperature

·   2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

1.     In a large bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

2.     In another bowl, whisk the yogurt, then slowly pour in the heavy cream and combine, using a hand mixer on low (or a stand mixer, if you have one). Then whip on high until stiff peaks begin to form.

3.     Add half the whipped cream mixture to the sweetened condensed milk and whisk until completely combined. Using a spatula, gently fold in the remaining whipped cream mixture until no streaks remain.

4.     Pour into a freezer-safe container and cover. You can use a loaf pan and cover with a layer of plastic wrap topped with tinfoil. At this point you can fill a pie shell if you'd like an ice cream pie. Put in the freezer until firm, at least 6 hours, and then enjoy!

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About MINT CHOCOLATE MURDER: When Udderly Delightful Ice Cream shop manager Riley Rhodes is summoned to Penniman’s Moy Mull Castle, it’s the cherry on top of a successful summer season. The gothic pile built by an eccentric New England Gilded Age millionaire has been transformed into a premiere arts colony by Maud Monaco, a reclusive former supermodel. As part of Moy Mull’s Fall Arts Festival, Maud is throwing a fantasy ice cream social and hires Riley to whip up unique treats to celebrate the opening of an exhibit by Adam Blasco, a photographer as obnoxious as he is talented.

As Penniman fills up with Maud’s art-world friends arriving for the festival, gossip swirls around Blasco, who has a dark history of obsession with his models. Riley’s curiosity and instincts for sleuthing – she was a CIA librarian – are piqued, and she wonders at the hold the cold-hearted photographer has over the mistress of Moy Mull.

But when Adam is found dead behind the locked door of Moy Mull’s dungeon, Riley realizes there’s more than one suspect who’d wanted to put the malicious photographer on ice

Meri Allen is the pen name of Shari Randall, author of the Agatha Award winning Lobster Shack Mystery series and the new Ice Cream Shop Mystery series.