Fourth of July Ice Cream Pie

Celebrate Independence Day the way our forefathers intended, with cake flavored ice cream and syrupy fruit. Berries are abundant, ripe and tart this time of year and are perfect complements to the sweet dairy and a crumbly graham cracker crust of this red, white and blue frozen confection. I wish you all a wonderful, safe and gleefully excessive Fourth.

We’ll be watching the Thomaston parade in the morning, which I’ve been assured is the cutest little small town extravaganza this side of River City. This happens to be Malcolm’s favorite holiday, a splendid combination of hot weather, patriotism, grilling, macaroni salad, wearing sweatshirts as it gets dark, listening to the Boston Pops, drinking many beers, and spectacular displays of pyrotechnics. We feel so happy to be home in Maine to wave our flags and sparklers. Have a blast and eat pie ’til you burst.

Fourth of July Ice Cream Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 graham cracker pie crust
• 3 cups strawberry short cake ice cream, softened
• 2 cups blueberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Strawberries and raspberries, for garnish
• Whipped cream

Method:

Soften ice cream on the counter. Meanwhile, bring blueberries, sugar and water to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and reduce the fruit, about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the lemon juice and allow the mixture to cool. Spread the ice cream into the pie crust with a rubber spatula and freeze. When the berries cool spread those over the ice cream and place the pie back in the freezer, about three hours. Top with whipped cream, fresh strawberries and raspberries.

Tagged as: dairy, dessert, frozen, fruit

About the Author: Jillian Bedell

Jillian grew up in Connecticut, went to university in Boston, college in New Haven, did some post-grad soul searching in New York, exiled herself to Mexico, married her longtime sweetheart, and lived in a house on the ocean. She suspected Maine might be the perfect place to raise a family, so she came back home to New England two years ago. Now a mom to Violet Maeve and living in Rockland, where she hopes to settle for a good, long while, Jillian reads, writes, walks, and practices Nia, when not watching Malcolm photograph sandwiches.