I’m always on the hunt for easy ice cream pies, and Frosty Butter Pecan Crunch Pie from The Gooseberry Patch Big Book of Home Cooking is the latest find. It’s more of an “assembling” project than a baking project, but it’s still fun to make. Plus I saw it not only in the Gooseberry Patch book, but in Taste of Home, so it’s a recipe that gets passed around.
The filling is a mix of vanilla pudding, butter pecan ice cream and whipped cream which is spread over a graham cracker crust, frozen, then topped with more whipped cream and sprinkled with toffee. The texture is like ice cream, but smoother, softer, lighter and easier to slice. Interestingly, the original version is not really a pie but a 13×9 inch frozen dessert, so if you need to feed a crowd you can double the recipe and use a large pan instead of a round crust.
If you are like me, you’re already thinking of ways to change the pie. The vanilla pudding combined with the butter pecan ice cream was tasty, but it would be fun to try banana pudding and banana ice cream or maybe cookies and cream pudding with cookies and cream flavored ice cream. Or how about chocolate pudding mix and chocolate ice cream? If you try a new flavor variation, let me know!
- 1 prepared graham cracker pie crust (I used a Honey Maid crust, which was pretty good)
- 1 cup cold milk
- 1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 cups butter pecan ice cream, softened
- 1 (8 oz) container whipped topping, divided use
- 1 or 2 Heath toffee bars
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer or a wire whisk, beat the milk and pudding mix until thickened.
- Fold in the softened butter pecan ice cream and stir until smooth, then fold in half of the container of whipped topping. Pour the mixture into the pie crust, then cover and freeze for 3 hours or until firm.
- When pie is firm, spread remaining whipped topping over the top. Crush the Heath Bars and sprinkle over the top. Put the pie back in the freezer until ready to serve.
Can I sub whipped heavy cream for the whipped topping? Do you know what the conversion would be?