Truth be told, I’ve not made ice cream pie before this summer.

I always figured… just make a fruit pie! And plop some ice cream on top!

But sometimes, it’s just too hot to fire up the oven.

And yet, one still wants pie.

I suppose, in that case, just scooping out some ice cream and skipping the pie makes sense.

On the other hand, there’s just something so essentially comforting about pie. Plus, if serving dessert to family or guests, pie indicates effort. (“Look!” pie seemingly proclaims on behalf of the baker. “I love you–as you can see, because I made PIE.”)

On the other, other (sweaty) hand, when it’s super hot, there’s no amount of love that can inspire firing up the oven, which itself might inspire swooning–

and not in a good way. (We think of ‘swoon’ as meaning to faint from being enraptured, but it also means ‘droop’ or ‘fade.’ Which, rather like the flowers we may have planted in, well, May, we can relate to by August.)

To the rescue: ice cream pie!

Here’s the recipe I tried (a variation of several I found online).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups crumbs made from chocolate wafers, graham crackers, or vanilla wafers. (I just toss them in the food processor.) Reserve a tablespoon for garnish, if desired.
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted. (Use microwave. Or if super hot, just stick the butter out on the counter in a bowl…)
• 1 quart vanilla ice cream
• 1 cup peanut butter (I prefer smooth, but you could use chunky.) Do you love Nutella? I do. I’ve thought about trying this recipe with Nutella for a creamy chocolatey version.
• 1 cup frozen whipped topping. (I know. Homemade whipped cream is better. But for this recipe, just use the frozen whipped topping.)
• Mini chocolate chips or toffee chips (Optional!)

Process:

1. To make crust:

• Combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. (I just toss the sugar and butter into the food processor after making the crumbs.)
• Maybe it’s where I live, but usually the mixture is a little too dry. So I fling on H2O. I just wash and rinse my hands thoroughly, then instead of drying, fling/flick water from my fingertips into the bowl until the mix will hold when I pinch the crumb blend together. It’s the art part of making a crumb crust. Plus, if it’s really hot, after you’ve flung water into the bowl, fling some onto yourself.
• Generously grease pie pan with cooking spray.
• Press crumb mix into pie pan.
• Instead of baking crust, freeze it for a half of an hour.

2. To make filling:

• Let the ice cream and frozen whipped cream soften.
• Mix the ice cream, peanut butter (Nutella?), and whipped topping. I just used a big wood spoon. I got a little bit of a workout, I admit, but this probably says something about how often I work out (as in how often I don’t…), or perhaps about the heat of my kitchen. In any case, after assembling the pie, I licked off the spoon to cool off, so all was well.

3. To assemble pie:

• Spoon the mix into the pie crust. Sprinkle with mini-chocolate chips or toffee chips (this sounds good on Nutella) or tablespoon of crumbs, if desired.
• Cover with wrap, and refreeze.

Let thaw about 20 minutes or so before serving, and run knife under hot water before slicing into it.

I’m already imagining variations beyond peanut butter. Would chocolate ice cream and marshmallow cream instead of peanut butter work for a S’more-ish pie? Chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, and frozen-then-crush peanut butter cups for garnish? OK, I’ll stop now. But let me know on my Jess Montgomery Facebook Page if you tried this recipe in any of its variations. Bonus “cool” points if you post a photo too. (Be cooler than me, and post an actual photo…) In any case, enjoy!