The day before churning:

1. Stir together the cream, milk, sugar and salt in a small pot over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
2. Remove pot from heat.
3. Whisk together the egg yolks in a separate mixing bowl and then slowly drizzle in about a cup of the hot milk and sugar mixture while whisking constantly. This tempers the yolks so you don’t cook them when you stir them into the pot.
4. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, stirring constantly. If you use a thermometer, it will read somewhere in the range of 170-175 F.
5. Set a fine-mesh sieve over your mixing bowl and strain the ice cream base through the sieve to remove any cooked egg bits. Let the mixture come to room temperature and then cover and chill overnight.

Ice Cream Making Day!

1. Stir the pumpkin puree and spices into your chilled base mixture. Since pumpkin can be a little grainy, especially if it’s homemade puree, strain the pumpkin base mixture once more through a fine-mesh sieve to catch any puree bits.
2. Churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions for your machine. I ran my machine about 10 minutes.
3. Scoop 1/2 of the soft ice cream into your freezing container, top with 1/3 cup of caramel.
4. Add the rest of the ice cream, and top with the remaining caramel.
5. Use a chopstick or butter knife to quickly swirl the caramel throughout the ice cream.
6. Freeze 3-4 hours until firm.
7. Allow to soften 5-10 minutes before scooping to serve, topping with additional caramel if desired.