Death by Pie--Caramel Ice Cream Pie

I made this Caramel Ice Cream Pie for my crop last weekend, and I almost killed my Stampin' Up Consultant with it. You think I'm kidding?

I'm dead serious. Excuse the pun. You see, Melanie the Stampin' Up Queen is allergic to nuts and this pie has pecans. I knew about her allergy, so I was careful to withhold the pecans that get sprinkled on top. My plan was to just sprinkle them on the individual servings and skip them on hers. I'm so smart and all that.

Yeah. Until Melanie casually asked me about the crust. Then it hit me, "Oh crap! There are pecans in the crust!" I think Melanie must know to ask such questions, and I'm very thankful for that, believe me.

The funny thing is, when I was freaking out and telling her how sorry I was, she was so sweet and said "Oh, it's no problem. I just won't eat it. I don't die if I eat nuts, I just swell up and it's hard to breath because my throat swells too."

Well, guess what? That didn't make me feel any better because the last time I checked, we need oxygen to live and if we can't breathe we don't have oxygen. It's a pretty simple equation, really. So, nice try, Melanie, trying to make me feel better about almost killing you. From this point forward I shall call Melanie by her new name, Melanie-Who-I-Almost-Killed-With-Pie. Kind of catchy, isn't it?

Lucky for Melanie she didn't eat the deadly pie, and Peanut Head was out and about so he was able to pick up a chocolate cream pie. Chocolate makes everything better, don't you think?

So here's the deadly crust, just lurking about and waiting to wreak it's anaphylactic shock on unsuspecting passers by. Can you believe the audacity?

But it sure is yummy.

I like to use this, my little Mini Prep Cuisinart, for turning cookies into crumbs for pie crusts. I don't have a real grown-up food processor, but this little guy works just fine. The Barefoot Contessa gave me this too. She's so good to me.

Now, I should warn you, in case you go to make this pie, that the crust might give you some fits. Hang in there though, because it's worth it.

Just keep looking at this picture and chant "Keep your eye on the ball, keep your eye on the . . ." Er, I mean pie.

The part that gave me fits was not pushing the crust into the pie plate, but putting the ice cream down on top of the crust and having sections of it crumble. In fact, the first time I made this pie I said to myself "I'm never making this mess again! This crust blows." Or something like that.

But the neat thing is, when all the melty goodness of the ice cream settles and sets up, it glues the crust back together and the pieces come out of the pie plate in very tidy little wedges. Just like it's supposed to in our dreams. No lie.

So, as I mentioned, you're going to put ice cream on the pie crust. About half of your container of ice cream. Which reminds me, did you know that what used to be a half gallon of ice cream is now only a quart and a half?!! And it's the same price! We're getting cheated out of that other half a quart.

Anyway, I'm losing focus here. You're going to use half of that not half gallon of ice cream for the first layer, then you'll lay down three tablespoons of the decadent mocha sauce you're going to whip up while you're waiting for the ice cream to get all melty.

Then you're going to lay the rest of the ice cream down and you are not going to sample it. Right?

Yeah, whatever. So, when you're done unfolding and licking out the inside of the empty carton, you're going to drizzle another three tablespoons of mocha sauce willy nilly around the top of the ice cream pie. No need to be fancy, just let it fly.

Then stick the pie in the freezer to set up for at least four hours. Once it's set-up, you're going to rewarm the rest of the mocha sauce and whip up some whipped cream. You can pipe whipped cream around the pie, or just serve it with a blob of it, drizzle some warm mocha sauce on top, and sprinkle it with some pecans with deadly intent.

Yum!

Here's your recipe card. Enjoy!