Ice Cream Pie!

Spring is here!
It's getting warmer, and I'm starting to uncover those shorts and skirts I haven't seen in months. The other day, it was about 75 degrees here, and everyone around town was in flip flops and buying ice cream.
During this (short) glimpse of warm weather, I decided to make an ice cream pie with Heath bars in it. Ice cream pies are super easy to make, and are a great treat on a warm day like the ones we've been having.


All you'll need for your Heath Bar ice cream pie is
1 Ready Crust chocolate pie crust
5 Heath bars
Enough vanilla ice cream to fill a pie pan.. So not that much. I bought 1.75 quarts of vanilla ice cream, and didn't even use 1/4 of it.
1 freezer.. For freezing, duh.


1. Set up a place to make your Heath bar ice cream pie. Leave the ice cream out to soften.
2. Cut up 3 of your Heath bars into small little pieces. These are the pieces that will go inside your pie, so make sure they're small. You don't want a huge Heath piece to be the death of a friend you are hoping to woo with this delicious treat.


3. Once the ice cream has softened enough to easily scoop with a spoon, lay down a layer of ice cream in your chocolate pie crust. Pack the ice cream as gently as possible, so you don't crush your crust.


4. Next, throw a layer of Heath bar on top of your layer of ice cream. You can put as little or as much as you would like, but make sure there you can see some ice cream through the Heath, so the two layers of ice cream can settle together. How romantic.


5. Once you are satisfied with your level of Heath bars, cover it up with the vanilla ice cream. I chose to only make one layer of Heath bar, but if you're feeling saucy, try putting two layers in, with three layers of ice cream. Just make sure to cover the Heath chunks completely.
6. Smooth over the top of your pie, and put it in the freezer for 45 minutes, or until the ice cream is frozen again. You don't want to eat Heath bar soup.


7. While your pie is freezing, break your last two Heath bars into big thick pieces for the topping. Another way of doing the topping is crushing the Heath bars, so your pie is more of a crumble pie on the top.
8. Take out your frozen ice cream pie, and start decorating! I did more of a Flinstone/mosaic top, but I encourage you to decorate to your own satisfaction. As you decorate, push the Heath bar pieces into the ice cream, so that they aren't easily moved when the ice cream starts melting.


9. Put your Heath bar ice cream pie into the freezer for another 45 minutes so that all of the ice cream in the pie is frozen.
10. Invite your friends over, and slice your pie open to reveal a delicious, chocolatey inside.


One great thing about this recipe, is that you can substitute Heath bars for any candy you want (maybe not any candy..but most). Next time I make this ice cream pie, I would love to try Snickers, Milky Way, Reese's, or York peppermint patties. Have FUN with your creation!

Question of the blog:
In all recipes, I prefer instructions that are clear, but with some vague parts that leave room for me to be creative. In my recipes that I post on here, would you prefer to hear straightforward, meticulous instructions, or more of a relaxed view to cooking?

Color My World: RAINBOW EDITION!

Andy and I love to have food adventures when we are together, and this visit definitely included a few of the top food adventures yet. One night, we had delicious homemade vegetable omelets with hashbrowns for dinner. Yum! Okay, that was great, but it was nothing compared to our food adventure we had yesterday. May I present to you, The Great Rainbow Cake!

Isn't it amazing?? So, for your viewing pleasure, and possible future pleasure for your own tastebuds, I'm going to give you a quick image slideshow on how to make this, and then send you over to the full recipe where we learned how to make this rainbow cake!

Andy and I made this cake with these ingredients:
1 package Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake
3 eggs
Some water.. You can measure it yourself
1 package of food coloring (food color gel works better)
1 box of vanilla frosting
2 baking pans

1. After preparing the Betty Crocker cake mix as directed on the box, we split the mix equally into 6 bowls.
2. Andy and I then added the food dye to each (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Our food dye worked great for a couple of the colors, but for the red and purple especially, it was much too pastel colored for our liking.
3. We then took half of each color cake mix, and dropped it in the center of the pan. The bottom color (purple, for example) will spread out as you add the top layers (blue, green, and so on).
4. In your other pan, you can do the same thing, or switch the colors so the color on the top of the other cake is the bottom of this one (for example, we went p-b-g-y-o-r and then r-o-y-g-b-p on our two cakes.)
5. Bake cakes in oven as instructed on the cake box.

As the cakes are baking, take pictures of all of the fun colors on your spoons. Make sure to bake this cake midday so you get the best lighting. I wish mine had turned out better!

Then, after approximately what your Betty Crocker box says, take those suckers out and let them cool. I suggest oohing and aahing for your beautiful rainbow cakes. Our cakes didn't look too pretty on the outside once we were cooked, but not to fear, because nobody sees the outside anyways when you have psychedelic frosting on top!
But before that! After cooling your naked rainbow cakes until they are room temperature, add a sealer to the top of one, and then stack the two. Andy and I used vanilla pudding (which we dyed orange, just for funsies), and it worked great in sticking the two together. It also tasted awesome. Just use a thin layer, or if you're feeling saucy, do whatever the heck you want!

1. Just like you split your cake batter into 6 bowls, split your frosting into 6 cups.
2. Add food dye into each cup to create red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Again, our purple really wasn't that fab.
3. You can really do this however you would like it, but we decorated our frosting in a bullseye fashion, with each color frosting on its matching color of cake. The purple part of the cake was in the center, so we started there, and rainbowed outwards.

4. Once you are finished making your cake into an acid trip bullseye, take a fork or knife, and starting at the center of the cake, pull the frosting outwards so it creates a marble effect.
5. After setting for a while, the fork marks will go away and you will have the most over the top cake you have ever seen.
6. Complete with sprinkles of your liking.

After an hour or so, and lots of dirty dishes covered in crazy colors, you will have a rainbow cake that is out of this freakin' world. Like the Easter bunny barfed up its existence and then put it on a platter. It's that good.

Andy and I, with the completed rainbow cake. What a fun adventure to share with someone. And and I had a good laugh over the commentary from the recipe where we got this, so be sure to go over to Omnomicon and look at her fun rainbow cake and sassy reasons why you want to make this cake. She used gel food dye and her cake colors turned out incredible vibrant and fun. Or if you're just looking for a great photographer, you should look there too. Omnomicon is the full package, complete with cute name.

All in all, the rainbow cake was a complete success. It not only filled our adventurous appetite, but our tastebud ones too! I have been asked by a few people about date ideas for couples, and I would definitely recommend this as one of them. It gives you a chance to work together as a team, while gaining kitchen skills and having fun together. It also teaches boys that they can be creative! Yes, boys, you too can be creative!

I encourage you to try new fun food adventures, whether it's with your boyfriend, girlfriend, mama, or just on your own. The end result is just so satisfying.

Happy cooking! xoxo