We have been on the road most of this week traveling and exploring the southwest. And just like back home, it is just plain hot outside. I will say, though, that I'll take this dry heat over humidity any day. (My hair agrees).
Chocolate ice cream pie came to mind a couple of weeks ago when I actually found a pre-made gluten-free graham cracker crust. As excited as I was to find this at my local grocery store, it was also filled with ingredients I wasn't so thrilled about consuming. So, I started brainstorming the kind of no-bake pie that I would want, and, well, you can see where that got us.
The chocolate no-bake crust comes together quickly. A mix of almond flour, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and coconut oil—it's pressed into a pie pan and awaits the ice cream. The vegan chocolate ice cream recipe I've included below is from Drizzle and Dip's 3-ingredient ice cream with slight variation. The beauty of this ice cream pie is really the versatility of how easy you want to make it. Fill with the store-bought ice cream of your choice if you'd like. It's hot. Dessert should be easy.
If you are making your own ice cream, preparing it the night before will make assembly the next day even faster. The toughest part is waiting for the pie to set in the freezer.
I've stored the finished product in the freezer tightly covered with plastic wrap and foil (maybe I'm paranoid?) and had a slice a couple of days later with no complaints. Stay cool, friends.
Make a Salted Plains recipe? I’d love to see! Tag your creations on Instagram with #saltedplains!
- [b]Filling:[/b]
- ⅔ cup water
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- 1 ¾ cups full fat coconut milk
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- -OR-
- 1 pint store-bought chocolate ice cream of choice
- [br]
- [b]Chocolate Crust:[/b]
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, room temperature
- [br]
- [b]Topping:[/b]
- 2 13.6-ounce cans full fat coconut milk (chilled overnight) or coconut cream (chilled for 2 hours)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Chocolate shavings
- [b]Filling:[/b] [i]If you are using store-bought ice cream, move on to the crust instructions. [/i] In a small saucepan, bring water, cocoa powder, and sugar to a boil until sugar has dissolved completely. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.
- Once cooled, add coconut milk and vanilla extract and stir. Pour cooled mixture into a large Ziploc bag. Place the bag flat in the freezer until frozen (a few hours) or overnight. Once frozen, break frozen mixture into chunks and transfer to the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth.
- Transfer ice cream to a metal loaf pan and place in freezer until ready to use.
- [b]Crust:[/b] Grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan [i]well[/i] with coconut oil. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add melted coconut oil and maple syrup and stir until dry ingredients are moistened and dough comes together.
- Transfer dough to prepared pan and press evenly into bottom and up sides. Place in freezer for 10 minutes or in refrigerator until ready to fill.
- [b]Topping:[/b] Open cans of coconut milk/cream, and carefully scrape the firm top part out and into a medium bowl. Discard liquid or save to use for another recipe. With an electric mixer, beat on until soft peaks start to form. Add maple syrup and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Place in refrigerator until ready to assemble pie.
- Assembly: Take your ice cream out of freezer and allow to soften slightly, about 5 minutes. Scoop ice cream into crust and spread to fill with a spatula. Place in freezer for 30 minutes to set.
- When ready to serve, spread prepared coconut whipped cream on top and sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
- Pie is easiest to cut if given a few minutes outside of freezer to soften just enough to slice and serve. A warm sharp knife works best. Wrap with plastic wrap and foil and store in freezer.
Emily
Hope you had the most wonderful trip exploring and adventuring! I'd forgotten about ice cream pie until you reminded me and now I want some. :) Chocolate on chocolate crust with the contrast of that white coconut cream--elegant and fun at the same time!
Tessa
I think I had almost forgotten about ice cream pie as well! Now I can't forget. ;) Hope you guys had a great 4th!
Traci | Vanilla And Bean
OMGeee All the inspiration coming from Summertime heat! This is so good, Tessa! And best of all, it's chocolate. This will definitely bring balance to a too hot day! Thank you for this and enjoy the rest of your time traveling! xo
Tessa
Thank you, Traci! Now that I'm back from our travels, I am about to make another for this weekend! I think as long as it stays hot I have a valid excuse, right? ;) xo
holly jade
this looks insane! Need to give it a go!
Holly at http://www.thelittleblogofvegan.com
Tessa
Now I'm thinking about all the different ice cream pie variations I can do. ;) Thank you, Holly!
Aysegul
That very last last photo... I want to eat it all. SUPERB!
I also loved the stop motion you created. So well done. <3
PINNED to make it next weekend for our friends coming out of town. Cheers!
Tessa
Aw, thank you, Aysegul!! This was my first time playing around with stop-motion and was a little nervous to post it. ;) I do hope you like the pie - yay for summertime! <3
Mary Ann | The Beach House Kitchen
That slice! I NEED that slice! This pie is the perfect summer treat Tessa!
Tessa
Hahaha, man, I wanted to eat all the slices at once. ;) thank you, Mary Ann! <3
Lisa
Hi Tessa, would you recommend bobs red mill gluten free flour for the crust? I want to bring this to a bbq but the host is allergic to almonds.
This looks amazing!!
Tessa
Hi Lisa - I haven't tried this no-bake crust with an all-purpose gf flour, but my guess is that it should work. I would slowly mix in the liquids as you may find you need a little more coconut oil. You could also use gluten-free oat flour in place of almond flour (or blitz oats in food processor). Alternatively, you could make a coconut crust. Throw 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, maple syrup, salt, and start with one tablespoon of coconut oil into food processor and pulse until dough starts to form. Add a little more coconut oil as needed. It may need a little more time in freezer to set. I hope this helps - if you try it with the gf flour I'd love to know how it worked!
Lisa
Hi! I did make this pie and it was very good. I made it before I saw your response so I am going to try it again with your suggestions. The crust was good but it separated from the ice cream. I think I needed a little more oil with the gluten free flour. I also want to try the coconut crust option! Sounds great. Thank you so much for all your help.
Tessa
Thanks for letting me know about gf flour experiment! So good to know! :)