Pumpkin Ice Cream Roll

Thanksgiving. Smoked the turkey two days early. Connie's sweet potato casserole. Stack cake for dessert. Family came to the house in Lexington. I sat on the porch after dinner and watched the kids run.

Connie cut my hair on the porch Tuesday afternoon. She has been cutting my hair for forty years. The barber in Pineville cannot do what Connie does, which is also love.

My back was tight after the wood-splitting Saturday. Took an Aleve. Slept eight hours. Got up.

I split a half-cord of wood Saturday. Slowly. The back does not let me work fast anymore. It got done. The wood was for the smokehouse.

Read the paper at breakfast Tuesday. The county news is not great. The mines have not come back and they will not come back. The young people leave. The hollows empty. We stay.

The dog — old Beau, fifteen years old — slept by the wood stove all afternoon Tuesday. He used to be a hunting dog. Now he is a heating pad with opinions.

I sat on the porch with bourbon at sundown Friday. The fog rolled into the hollow the way it has every fog of every year. The porch was the porch. The bourbon was the bourbon.

Amber sent the kids' school photos this week. Nadia is taller every year. Marcus has Amber's serious face. Little Betty has Mama's eyes.

I went up to Earl's grave at the Evarts cemetery Saturday. Brought a beer. Drank half. Poured the rest on the dirt. Some traditions are mine alone.

Travis sent a photo of Earl Thomas riding on the mower with him at a job site. The boy is wearing a Hensley Landscaping T-shirt that's too big. Three generations on a mower. I saved the photo.

Drove to Pineville for parts Wednesday. The hardware store man knew me. We talked about the weather and the price of feed. Forty minutes for a five-minute errand. That is rural Kentucky.

Connie made jam Saturday afternoon. Wild blackberries from the patch up the hollow. Twelve jars. The pantry is filling for winter.

I sat at the kitchen table Tuesday night working on the recipe project. Mama's soup beans. I cannot get the words right yet.

I checked the truck oil Saturday. The mileage on this truck is criminal.

Sunday service at Harlan First Baptist when we go. Pastor preached about Ruth and Boaz. The choir sang. Connie wore her gray dress.

Connie read aloud from a novel Tuesday evening while I worked on the bench. Some Appalachian writer she had picked up at the library in Whitesburg. The voice was the voice of where we live. We listened together.

Worked on a basement remodel job in Lexington. The work was good. The pay was good. The body is tired.

The neighbor up the road — Old Roy, eighty-seven, lives alone — had a small heart scare. We took him soup beans Tuesday. Cornbread too. He cried a little when he ate. We all cry over soup beans eventually.

Drove the truck to the dump Saturday afternoon. Saw three deer crossing the road on the way back. The mountains have been giving back this year.

The creek was running clear Sunday afternoon. I watched a kingfisher work the riffle. Did not move for an hour. Some Sundays the watching is the worship.

Connie made twelve jars of blackberry jam Saturday and the pantry is filling for winter — that is the season we are in, the putting-up season, the making-ready season. With Thanksgiving already behind us and the smokehouse stocked and the family fed, I wanted to add one more thing to the table: something pumpkin, something that felt like the end of a good hard week. This pumpkin ice cream roll is what I landed on. It is a little work, the same as splitting a half-cord slowly, but it gets done and it is worth it.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 40 min (plus 2–4 hrs freezing) | Servings: 10

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (for rolling)
1 1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened
Whipped cream and cinnamon, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan, line with parchment paper, and grease the parchment.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
Mix wet ingredients. In a large bowl, beat eggs and granulated sugar with a hand mixer on medium-high until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Mix in pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
Combine and spread. Fold dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just combined. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake. Bake 12–15 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched and the edges are just pulling from the pan.
Roll the cake. Immediately turn the hot cake out onto a clean kitchen towel dusted generously with powdered sugar. Peel off the parchment. Starting from the short end, roll the cake up in the towel. Let it cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.
Fill with ice cream. Carefully unroll the cooled cake. Spread the softened vanilla ice cream in an even layer, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Re-roll the cake (without the towel) tightly.
Freeze. Wrap the roll tightly in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours, or overnight, until firm throughout.
Slice and serve. Remove from freezer 5 minutes before serving. Slice with a sharp knife, dust with powdered sugar, and top with whipped cream and a pinch of cinnamon if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pumpkin Ice Cream Roll — Something Sweet for the Pantry Season