Moose Tracks Ice Cream Pie

Just last week my friend Barb (of Profiteroles and Ponytails) posted an old family recipe for Moose Tracks Ice Cream Pie…and as luck would have it, our good friends Paul and T (remember Rock Star Bus? Well they are the Rock Stars!) were coming up for a ‘long weekend’ so I HAD to make this recipe. Not the healthiest dessert, but I made slightly smaller portions, or sharing is an option.

Individual Moose Tracks Ice Cream Pie, get your grubby paws off, this is MINE, ALL MINE!

I had a litre of heavy cream left over in the fridge from when I made only half the ricotta cheese recipe (from my friend John From the Bartolini Kitchen), so I thought I would make my own Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Everything else was virtually the same from Barb’s recipe.

That fudge ripple was exceptional

Home Made Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

from Cuisineart’s Ice cream maker recipe book

Serves 8-12

Ingredients:

• 2-1/3 cups whole milk
• 2-1/3 cups heavy cream
• 1 whole vanilla bean (about 6 inches in length)
• 3 large eggs
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1-1/8 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan. Use a sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Use the blunt edge to scrape out the “seeds.” Stir the seeds and bean pod into the milk/cream mixture. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Combine eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a medium bowl. Use a hand mixer on medium speed to beat until the mixture is thick, smooth, and pale yellow in color (similar to mayonnaise), about 2 minutes.
3. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the milk/cream mixture and discard. Update from a_boleyn:
   Do NOT discard your vanilla pod!! Squeeze as much of the cream off it as you can, rinse it briefly under cold water and let dry then add it to a cup of regular sugar and grind it up in your food processor and store in an small jar. It makes the best vanilla sugar to add to coffee or into your baking wherever vanilla sugar is called for.
4. Measure out 1 cup of the hot liquid. With the mixer on low speed, add the cup of hot milk/cream to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. When thoroughly combined, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk/cream mixture and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Transfer to a bowl, stir in vanilla, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly on the custard, and chill completely.
5. Pour the chilled custard into the freezer bowl, turn the machine on and let mix until thickened, about 25 to 30 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. Fold in the mini peanut butter cups at this point and follow Barb’s recipe to make the pie.
6. Remove from freezer about 6 minutes before serving.

Adult Fudge Ripple Sauce (warning, this could be dangerous)

(From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp Kahlua Liquor (hmmmm, this wasn’t in the original ingredients…my word)

Directions:

1. Whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and cocoa in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until boiling, stirring frequently, then let boil for a minute.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Cover and refrigerate. Whisk in the Kahlua! Drizzle over anything,oh oh hell, why not EVERYTHING, even body parts. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 😀

Notes: The cookie crumble was quite dry as Barb had mentioned but I did not heed her instruction and I relented and added a bit of extra melted butter; when frozen, the pie bottom turned out harder than expected, so I’m serving it with a jack hammer!

I thought I would update this post with a couple of shots of the freezing containers I used for presentation. The small square one’s I bought years and years ago at Ikea and they are for ice only, not to be baked in; the round ones may be used for baking, but frankly I am not fond of the smell of silicon in the oven, so I end up using it for frozen desserts only (plus the few times I did bake in them, they stained very badly!). I actually served the larger portions for our dinner party.

 

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