food science question

[chhotii]

Consider the following ice cream recipe:

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients

1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
OR
1-3/4 cups homemade cooked pumpkin puree

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

Drain pumpkin puree in cheesecloth lined strainer for 15 minutes.

Heat cream, white sugar, and brown sugar at low to medium heat. Do
not boil. Stir often until small bubbles form at edge of pan. Remove
from heat and whisk until sugar dissolves. Cool at room temperature.

Combine pumpkin puree, sweetened cream mixture, salt, cinnamon,
ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Beat using an electric mixer on
medium-high speed for 3 minutes, scraping sides often.

Pour mixture into ice cream machine. Freeze according to
manufacturer's directions.

Question: Why is the cream cooked? i.e., what is the advantage of cooking the cream mixture over not cooking the cream mixture?

Another question... would it be acceptable to use half-and-half instead of heavy whipping cream? I realize that the final product would have a much less rich mouth-feel. But I think that ice creams vary a lot in fat content, and I think it's a matter of taste, how much fat content you prefer.

Comments

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

it's to dissolve the sugar and avoid grittiness

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Ah-hah! Thank you for the useful answer.

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

now you could use half and half, but be very careful not to come up beyond bubbles around the edges of the pan,it will split

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Your pumpkin pie recipe is missing one key ingredient: the crust. Why not cook a whole pie, then let it cool. Take most of the innards of the pie (not the crust) and mix in extra cream to turn it all into an ice cream base. save the crust. Make ice cream out of the innards+cream, then at the last minute crumble the crust into bite sized bits and stir in crust with one or two swirls. Or, to make it easier, just dump the whole pie with crust into a bowl, add extra cream to turn it into an "ice cream" then mix and freeze it all together.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Hey how about YOU do that. :) My washing machine just malfunctioned, causing a huge new water stain on the downstairs ceiling (thanks silly architect for the brilliant idea that we put the laundry nook upstairs-- now I know why it's usually in the basement). So I barely have the spoons to cook the cream for 5 minutes, let alone make pie crust. Plus considering how lame an attempt the air conditioner is making at cooling the house, no way am I turning on a heat-generating device as big as the oven.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

You can get away with half and half; it won't be quite as rich but there's going to be enough butterfat floating around that the cumulative effect will be the same.

There's a very slight flavor difference between cooked and uncooked cream but for this recipe it's most likely just to dissolve the sugar.