PUMPKIN ICE CREAM PIE WITH SALTED CARAMEL & A GINGERBREAD CRUST

~ Eat at Home

1 1/2 c. finely crushed gingersnap cookies
6 T. butter, melted
2 T. sugar
2 c. pumpkin ice cream, softened
2 c. vanilla ice cream, softened
1/2 c. salted caramel sauce
broken cookie pieces for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix crushed cookies, butter, and sugar in a bowl. Pour into a pie plate and press to form a crust. Bake 8 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

Spread pumpkin ice cream in bottom of crust. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Spread vanilla ice cream over top and drizzle with more sauce. Garnish with broken cookie pieces, if desired.

Freeze several hours until firm before serving.

Notes: A box of Nabisco gingersnaps makes three cups of crumbs when you run the cookies through the food processor, so you can make two pies without garnish with one box. I've made a few of these pies now and have learned some lessons along the way. One, I should spread one layer, freeze it for a while, then spread the second layer. Two, I should soften my ice creams to the same consistency or have the top one by thinner than the second one. I did neither of those things the first time, which meant my vanilla ice cream sunk in big chunks down into the pumpkin ice cream. It looked horrible, but it still tasted great. Of course, you could make things really easy by just scooping the ice cream into a bowl, drizzling it with sauce, and grabbing a handful of cookies, but whatever.

PUMPKIN ICE CREAM

~ Against All Grain

1 c. pumpkin puree
1 very ripe banana, peel removed
1/2 c. coconut milk
2 t. maple syrup or honey
1 t. pumpkin pie spice

Fill an ice cube tray with the pumpkin puree, making 7-8 cubes, and cover with plastic wrap. Place the banana in a ziploc bag and place in the freezer overnight along with the pumpkin.

Remove the pumpkin cubes from tray and let sit on the counter in a bowl for 10 minutes. Remove banana from the bag and place in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until the consistency of a soft-serve ice cream.

Makes two servings.

Notes: We've made this with maple syrup and with honey, and everyone likes the honey version better. We eat our ice cream in the evening, so I just pop the pumpkin and banana in the freezer in the morning, then make the ice cream in the evening.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BANANA ICE CREAM

~ Food Your Way

4 ripe bananas, cut into 1-2" pieces
2 T. peanut butter
1 T. chocolate chips

Freeze bananas until stiff. 

In a small pan, melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips together, stir frequently.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Place frozen banana pieces and peanut butter mixture into a food processor; blend until smooth.  Serve immediately.

Notes: We have eaten this immediately and also frozen some to eat later.  Both ways work well, but the frozen version is firmer ... much firmer.  Once it's frozen solid, you'll need to let it sit out a bit before you can dish it up.  If you want to plan ahead, then freeze several bananas, portioned out in whatever amounts you need to make ice cream for your family, so that they are ready to use whenever the mood for ice cream strikes.