Monday Sweets: Strawberry Smoothie Ice-Cream Pie

Why We Made the Pie:

My mother told me to, or rather asked me to after staring at its picture for a few months. I agreed when I was searching for a dessert to serve friends at the end of a potentially million-degree day on the lake.

Why We Liked the Pie:

Prettiness of colorful layers. I oohed and ahhed when we popped it out of the spring form pan.

Refreshing fresh fruit (banana, strawberries, and blueberries) mixed with vanilla ice cream. I used Mayfield's.

Waffle Cone Crust. This way you get the flavor and crunch of the cone with less mess.

Deceptively simple preparation—mix fruit with ice cream and layer. It just required many steps of mixing and freezing, which didn't seem as time consuming when I was hanging around the kitchen at the lake whilst chatting with friends, enlisting friends' help, and snacking.

Why I Might or Might Not Make Again:

The other 9 taste testers at the lake for the weekend liked it, and we had fun discussing which layer we thought best (banana might have won). Given my biased against super fruity desserts, I'd personally rather have either a smoothie or a slice of mint chocolate chip ice cream pie. I do, however, like that ice cream pies keep much longer than your average dessert, just like any ice cream.

Strawberry Smoothie Ice-Cream Pie

Southern Living, April 2005

1  (7-ounce) package waffle cones, broken into pieces

6  tablespoons  butter, melted

1  tablespoon  granulated sugar

2  (1-quart) containers premium vanilla ice cream, divided

1  (16-ounce) container fresh strawberries (1 quart), stemmed

1/4  cup  powdered sugar, divided

1  pint fresh blueberries

2  ripe bananas

Garnishes: waffle cone pieces, fresh whole strawberries, fresh blueberries

Process first 3 ingredients in a food processor until finely crushed. Firmly press mixture onto bottom of a lightly greased 10-inch springform pan.

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Let vanilla ice cream stand at room temperature 20 minutes or until slightly softened.

Process strawberries and 2 tablespoons powdered sugar in a food processor until pureed, stopping to scrape down sides; remove strawberry mixture, and set aside.

Process blueberries and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar in food processor until pureed, stopping to scrape down sides; set aside.

Mash bananas with a fork in a large bowl; stir in remaining 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Set aside.

Place 1 quart of ice cream in a large bowl; cut into large (3-inch) pieces. Fold strawberry mixture into ice cream until blended. Place in freezer until slightly firm.

Divide remaining quart of ice cream in half, placing halves in separate bowls. Stir blueberry mixture into half and mashed banana mixture into remaining half. Place bowls in freezer.

Spread half of strawberry mixture evenly into prepared crust in springform pan. Place pan and remaining strawberry mixture in freezer. Freeze 30 minutes or until strawberry layer in pan is slightly firm. Spread banana mixture evenly over strawberry layer in pan; return pan to freezer, and freeze 30 minutes or until banana layer is slightly firm. Repeat procedure with blueberry mixture. Spread remaining strawberry mixture over blueberry layer in pan, and freeze 3 hours or until all layers are firm. Let pie stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Häagen-Dazs ice cream.