Time flies...and ice cream pie

I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is upon us again.  We've all been talking about Thanksgiving being "late" this year but I still feel like it got here in a big hurry.  I wish I could somehow will time to slow down but it does just the opposite.  I have to admit that it makes me a little sad in a way...life seems to whiz by faster and faster every year.  How is my son eight already (...never mind my own age!) and how does one calendar and school year seem to clip right along one after another.

Keeping it simple - Ice cream pie, with oreo cookie crust and vanilla chocolate chip ice cream

Alright, let me snap out of it because this is no time for wistfulness!  The best thing to do is to enjoy life to the fullest, take each holiday and celebration as a blessing.  While Christmas is my true love, I still think Thanksgiving is a lovely holiday for family and feasting, and I feel lucky to have a very long list of things to be grateful for.

So I'll be in the kitchen on turkey, gravy, and biscuit duty and then I'm off to enjoy an eclectic family feast of Asian-American goodies.  So it's time for turkey, it's time for sides, and it's time for pie!  

For dessert, I'm keeping it basic with a simple ice cream pie.  I've tried my hand at pumpkin, chocolate, and brownie pies (in the days before this blog, there was once a sweet potato pie, too) but in thinking about the little ones in our extended family, I know ice cream will be a true crowd-pleaser.  It's never too cold and you're never too full for ice cream, right? So for my Thanksgiving dessert contribution this year, I went with a simple ice cream pie, made with an Oreo cookie base, filled with homemade vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.  So easy and practically stress-free!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope your day is filled with good eats and great company.  May your meal meal fill you up in more ways than one.


Crust:

My son loves Oreo cookies so this one's for him.  I processed about 20 of them (use Oreos or any other chocolate cream-filled cookies) with 3 tablespoons of melted butter in a food processor.  I say "about" because would you believe I went to Target about a week ago and they were out of regular Oreos!  In the interest of keeping things stress-free and going with the flow, I bought a couple of bags of mini Oreos instead and used those along with the handful of regular size cookies (they were actually Joe-Joe's) I had at home.  In case anyone wants to know, 4-5 minis equal a regular size.  I used 4.

I pressed the crumbs into my pie pan and baked it for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees, until fragrant.  Let cool at room temperate and then chill the crust before adding the ice cream.

Ice cream:

Fill the pie with whatever ice cream you like, store-bought or homemade.  I went with homemade vanilla chocolate chip.  I used this very simple, very easy Philadelphia-style (no egg) vanilla ice cream recipe.  At the very last couple of minutes of churning, I added 4 ounces of finely chopped dark chocolate into the machine.

Now the pie's all wrapped up tight in the freezer, ready to go for Thursday.  I love a simple make-ahead!  

Recipe:

Ice Cream Pie
Crust recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman; Ice cream recipe from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

- For one 9-inch pie - 

For the Crust:
20 whole Oreo (or other chocolate-cream) cookies
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grind the cookies in a food processor until fine.  Add melted butter and pulse to combine.  Turn the crumbs onto a 9-inch pie plate and press firmly down and up the sides of the pan.  Press pie pan onto a baking sheet and bake until fragrant, about 10 minutes.

Let cool to room temperature and then chill in the fridge for at least an hour or two before adding the ice cream.

For the ice cream:
1 quart store-bought (softened until just spreadable) or homemade ice cream 

I used homemade vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.  The vanilla ice cream recipe is: here.  About a minute or two before the ice cream is finished, I added 4 ounces of finely chopped dark chocolate. The consistency of the just-churned ice cream is perfect for filling into the pie.

Spread ice cream evenly into the chilled pie crust, using an offset spatula to smooth over the top. Cover and place in the freezer for at least a few hours before serving.