The Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie above is all a caramel lover could ever want from life. It’s an eye-rolling-into-the-back-of-your-head experience with every bite. Heck, your eyes will probably start rolling before the bite ever reaches your mouth.
The recipe is from a cookbook every pie lover should buy TODAY, Crazy About Pies by Krystina Castella. (Read my Crazy About Pies Review by clicking the link.)
As you can see, I used a disposable tin pie pan. When I’m making ice cream pies, I always buy the disposable pans. I’m… um… not entirely sure why actually. I mean, glass pie plates freeze just fine. It’s just a strange quirk of mine – the good thing about this strange quirk is it’ll never be lonely. My strange quirks number in the hundreds.
The recipe called for either Vanilla, Caramel, or Dulce De Leche ice cream and each would be out of this world. However, when I was in the ice cream aisle at Kroger, an ice cream called Caramel Praline (Kroger brand ice creams are fantastic, by the way) caught my eye.
Into the cart it went.
I actually made two pies and one carton ended up being all I needed. If your pie plates are larger than my disposable tins, you may need all of one container for one pie.
I’m including the pretzel crust recipe from the cookbook as well, because I’m just that darn cool.
A few observations before the recipe:
- This recipe makes the best caramel topping I’ve ever devoured. It would be excellent as a dip for apples, pretzels, or your fingers. It’d also be excellent drizzled over ice cream or.. well… your fingers.
- (Duck! Here comes another strange quirk flying in!) I was a little nervous about my pretzel crust “setting,” and few things break my heart more than a pie crust that won’t do its job. So, I drizzled a little of the caramel sauce over the crust as it cooled. I had extra caramel sauce, since I was confident the ice cream I was using didn’t need any more caramel mixed in. I saved the small amount I had left as an ice cream topper extraordinaire.
- This recipe would be a lot of fun to experiment with. You have the basic, amazing recipe for a pretzel crust and caramel sauce. Let your imagination run wild with different ice cream flavors and even trade out caramel sauce with your favorite chocolate sauce. In the end, however, nothing’s going to beat this pie just as it is.
- See the picture right above these observations? The caramel Heaven-ness left in the bottom of the pan is so delicious you’ll want to dive in head first. Just be sure no one’s around.
Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie
FILLING:
Vanilla or Caramel Ice Cream (page 256) or 1.5 quarts store-bought vanilla, duce de leche, or caramel ice cream
CARAMEL TOPPING
1 9.5-ounce bag caramels
1/2 cup whole milk
CRUST
Large Pretzel Crust (page 235), baked and cooled
GARNISH
2 tablespoons crushed pretzels
1/4 cup whole pretzels
Makes one 10-invh single-crust pie.
Vanilla Ice Cream, mixed with a streak of caramel and set in a pretzel crust, offers a surprisingly sweet, smooth, buttery, and somewhat salty taste. Prepare the ice cream from scratch or purchase store-bought ice cream and mix in the caramel.
- Soften the ice cream until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
- Combine the caramels and milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Cool for 5 minutes. If using vanilla ice cream, use a spatula to swirl three-fourths of the caramel mixture into the ice cream.
- Spread the ice cream into the crust, then spread the caramel (or the remaining caramel, if using vanilla ice cream) on top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours. When ready to serve, top with crushed and whole pretzels.
One more observation: The 3 hours it has to spend in the freezer will be the longest 3 hours of your adult life.
