Today is National pie day and what better way to celebrate in central Florida than with the only frozen stuff we will see all winter. Ice cream. Premade ice cream pies and cakes are expensive and the ice cream places don’t want you to know how easy they are to prepare on your own. A simple ice cream pie with little effort? Not a problem.
First start with your favorite one-and-a-half quart of ice cream, any flavor you like. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and let the ice cream soften on the counter while you get a premade graham cracker pie crust.
Open the ready-made crust and soften 2 tbsp of butter in the microwave, about five seconds should do the trick.
Smear the butter on the inside of the crust with a soft spatula and bake in the oven for five minutes till the crust hardens. Place in freezer for fifteen minutes. This will create a nice crunchy base for your pie.
Now the ice cream should be soft but not melted. Mix the ice cream in its container till it is evenly softened not runny. Remove the crust from the freezer and fill with ice cream. Smooth evenly with a spatula. It’s fun to add sprinkles and toppings at this point because they will harden into the pie when it refreezes.
Cover with wax paper and return to freezer. Freeze for a minimum of two hours and serve.
In creating this simple recipe I decided to make my own crust using double stuff Oreos and Nilla wafers to create a cookies and cream crust. Instead of rifling through web pages trying to piece together a crust recipe, I decided to ask the experts at Crisco.
I was recently introduced to the Crisco pie hotline over the holidays and couldn’t figure a reason for calling 877-FOR-PIE-TIPS Monday-Friday 9am to 7pm. Pies are not what I would consider a time or money consuming process. I was winging this crust recipe so I needed to consider a few important details; how much shortening/butter and crumbs to use, how long to bake, what temperature, etc. so I gave them a call. They are the experts after all.
Cookies and Cream Mint Ice Cream Pie
2 Cups crushed Nilla wafers and Oreo cookies (remove cream centers and set aside)
4 Tbsp Butter
wax paper
Hard uncooked beans
1 1/2 quart mint chocolate chip ice cream
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and set ice cream on counter to thaw
- Spread a thin layer of cookie crumbs in pan and work up sides till even
- Pour butter into crumbs and moisten thoroughly with a spoon
- Press mixture onto bottom of pan and along the edges using the back of the spoon. To prevent sticking sprinkle excess crumbs onto wet mixture
- Line with wax paper and fill with weights (hard beans) to prevent bubbling
- Bake for seven minutes, remove wax paper and beans, bake another five minutes. Cool on rack
- Place crust in freezer for ten minutes
- Mix ice cream in container till consistency is even. Not runny but firm
- Remove crust from freezer and fill with ice cream. Spread evenly and decorate as desired.
My family likes to take the reserved Oreo creams and mold them into shapes. When the pie is frozen you can press the shapes into the top to make a scene. The pliable creams are very easy to form but will get messy if too warm, so work them on a cool surface.
The helpful lady at the crisco hotline had given me the temperatures, times and amount of butter and crumbs to make the crust, but she recommended 4 cups of crumbs which ended up being way too much. She did not mention use of the weights so her time measure was a little short but I simply doubled her baking time and came up with great results. I didn't end up crushing more cookies, so I was happy with her assistance and recommend giving them a ring if you ever find yourself in a pie-dicament.
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