If you want to end a summer celebration or gathering with a big old bang, you would be hard pressed to pick a better dessert than an ice cream pie. Somehow, ice cream stuffed into a pie crust just seems so much more festive and decadent and sultry than bowls of ice cream.
And it’s one of the easiest-to-make treats on the planet. Especially this version, with the classic chocolate, vanilla and peanut butter cup thing happening. Not to mention the whipped cream.
Often, ice cream pies have cookie crusts of some sort, but I had a refrigerated pie crust hanging around and decided to blind bake the crust and use that as the base for this pie. Blind baking means baking a pie crust on its own, so that it can be fully cooked and wonderfully flaky before you start piling in a filling that doesn’t need to be cooked, like a chocolate mousse or all kinds of icebox pies.
For this recipe, fit the pie dough (homemade or from a package) into the pan, line the dough with parchment paper, cover it with weights of some sort (like dried rice or beans) so the dough stays in place without shrinking or bubbling, and bake it. There are also pie weights available for the dedicated baker.
A few other tips: Leaving the crust in the freezer for an hour or so before putting it in the oven helps it keep its shape while baking. Also, save the rice or beans you used to weigh down the crust for another time. Place them in a jar and label them “baking beans” or “baking rice,” and they won’t go to waste (you can’t cook them once they’ve been in the oven).
For the cleanest, smoothest layers, pop the pie back into the freezer for a bit after you add each layer of ice cream. If you have thought ahead enough to spread the pie-building process over a full day or two, this is very doable. But if a magazine-quality cross-section isn’t your deepest wish, then skip that step and just spread the ice cream layers carefully, so they remain discrete from one another.
The pie will keep for five days in the freezer. Make the whipped cream just before serving. You can also slice the pie without with the whipped cream, and serve individual slices with whipped cream added to each piece if you prefer.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP ICE CREAM PIE
Serves 8-10
Start to finish: 5 hours (more if you are spreading out the steps)
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 pint chocolate ice cream
25 miniature peanut butter cups, chilled and coarsely chopped, divided
3/4 cup cold heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Nutrition information per serving: 465 calories; 263 calories from fat; 29 g fat (15 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 60 mg cholesterol; 231 mg sodium; 48 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 34 g sugar; 7 g protein.
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