Place an 8 or 9-inch pan in the freezer.
2. Combine the vanilla, cream, milk, pumpkin, ½ cup sugar, and maple syrup over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. When the mixture is steaming steadily and registers at 175 degrees (5-10 minutes), remove from heat.
3. While the mixture is heating, combine the yolks with the 2 tablespoons of sugar.
4. Slowly mix in 1 cup of the heated pumpkin mixture into the yolks, then pour back into the remaining pumpkin mixture and heat over medium low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens and registers at 180 degrees (7-14 minutes).
5. Immediately pour custard into a large bowl and let cool (10-20 minutes).
6. Place one cup of the custard in a smaller bowl and cover both bowls with plastic wrap.
7. Place the smaller bowl in the freezer and the larger in the fridge. Chill for 4-24 hours.
8. Scrape the frozen custard into the chilled custard and stir until the frozen custard dissolves. Strain the custard and transfer to an ice cream machine. Churn until at thick soft serve consistency and registers at 21 degrees (15-25 minutes).
9. Transfer ice cream to the frozen baking pan and press tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze until firm around the edges (1 hour).
10. Transfer to an airtight container, pressing firmly to remove air pockets and freeze until firm (2 hours).
