Salted Pretzel Ice Cream in a Chocolate Cake Crumb Pie Crust

Yeah I know.  It’s a mouthful, Salted Pretzel Ice Cream in a Chocolate Cake Crumb Pie Crust.  I mean hey, what can I say, it was Mother’s Day?!

The bonus of today’s efforts is that you can use either recipe separately.  Make the ice cream and enjoy simply in a dish.  With hot fudge and whipped cream and whoa….ahem.  Or make the pie crust and use it um, All.The.Damn.Freaking.Time, thank you.

It’s a rare moment when the television remote falls to my hands.  Always only because Mike’s not around.  And generally speaking, I don’t watch TV much at all.  It’s only on when Mike is home aka Remote Controller, but when it’s in my hot little hand, it’ll flip to cooking shows.

Which, heh, is odd because I’m not a good cook.  And I dislike cooking immensely.  

Saturdays have always been my favorite day of the week.  Back many moons ago, I’d laze on the couch and watch the entire afternoon’s worth of shows on PBS.

You’d think that woulda helped me with my (lack of) cooking abilities but nope.  No, it did not.  Well maybe but not by a whole heck of a lot.  

Jacques Pepin, Julia Child, can’t remember what else, all afternoon long.  It was lazy and great and informative. 

Then I met Mike and lost the remote.  That’s ok.  The trade was worth it.

But recently, he was off somewhere and I had a chance to watch Unique Sweets which, uuugghh!!, that show…..I always need to pre-set myself up with a drool bucket and towel.  And after each episode, I have the Raging urge to open a bakery/ice cream shop.  Never fails.

Then I remember the early morning hours required and poof, desire dispelled.

There was an episode featuring Scratch Bakery where they casually glossed over a cake crumb pie crust.

What the what?!?!  Excuu…..excuuuuse me?

A cake crumb pie crust?!  What the hell, and you all just bloop, say those words and move on like it’s nothing?!

That is nuts, people.  You can’t….cake….crumb pie crus…..t…..come on!!  Why is this not a thing everywhere all the time?!?!

So much unhinged over this concept, I made a note on my phone, something I have never done:   find a way to make this.

And so then ice cream?  Seemed a natural fit for said pie crust.  But which one in my recipe repertoire?
Well gosh, doesn’t this pretzel one from Cake Over Steak make sense?  Gosh, duuuuh!

So here we have it, Salted Pretzel Ice Cream in a Chocolate Cake Crumb crust.  hahahaha!

And then why not make this for my mom for Mother’s Day?!  Yes!  Well, and the rest of us too.  So I did.  Then I made it a second time to work out the kinks so it’d be perfect for you all.  Oh I know, I really took one for the team here.  Cough. 

Worse, Mike and I took it really extra hard as yes, I am that nuts to bake a whole entire chocolate cake just to make the pie crust.  I didn’t have any leftover cake, what can I say.  And truly, come on, how often is there leftover cake?!  Is that even a thing? 

 

I apologize in advance for the multiple blurry photos in this post.

The one I made is similar to my Quickie one so if you’re in need ASAP, feel free to use that.  Yes, I’ll share the one I made soon because it is awesome and so fast and feeds a crowd.

Take about two cups worth of chopped up cake, more is fine (this isn’t exact but don’t go overboard), pop the chunks in a food processor* and pulse a couple times to break them down.  Drizzle in three tablespoons of melted butter, zip zip to crumb stage and so the butter is combined. 

Num num num, chocolate cake crumb.

Dump the contents into a pie dish* (I didn’t grease it and it was fine), lightly but with a purpose press the crumbs in there, then bake at 350° for around fifteen minutes, about when the scent of cake wafts through the air.  It’ll still be a little soft, don’t panic. 

I mean. Seriously. What could be better than a chocolate cake pie crust?!

And don’t panic if you can see holes through.  After the initial hotness wears off, lightly smush the crust around to fill the holes back up and set aside to cool. 

Well holey pie crust. Whoops. No worries, smush it back together.  Heh.

So for the ice cream, start by soaking the pretzels in the milk then take the dog for nice long walk while they give up their pretzeliness. 

Here’s after a good long soak.

Pass the milk through a fine mesh strainer,* smush the pretzels a bit to squeeze out all the goodness, and warm the milk in a saucepan. 

When you start seeing slight bubbles on the edges, whisk* the eggs, yolk, and sugar together. This will be thickly gloppy but get your arm strength teed up until the sugar is mostly dissolved and it’s a pretty shade of pale yellow.  Don’t do this ahead of time as the sugar will burn the eggs. 

Do the tempering thing by adding a little hot milk into the sugary eggs while constantly whisking, add more milk, whisk, more, until the mix has warmed then pour it all into the saucepan.  Bump up the heat, stirring constantly until the mix turns quite pudding-like which will go quick so be on your toes. 

Ah ha! I finally got my clean line on the back of a spoon!

Remove from the heat, add the heavy cream, stir stir, strain again into a bowl set in an ice bath.  Once it has cooled enough, cover the happy creaminess directly on the surface with plastic wrap so a skin doesn’t form. 

Oooooh you are gonna be so good.

Wait for the custard to cool on the counter or chill in the fridge.  In the meantime, go install some shelves maybe.  Or, I did anyway. 

Run that deliciousness in your ice cream maker (while I’m staunchly anti-single use tools, I am staunchly all about an ice cream maker,* everyone should have one) and when it’s ready, scoop it out and spread it in the now cooled pie crust. 

Uhhh.

Top this dish of delight with chopped chocolate bits, some broken pretzel pieces, cover, freeze, and impatiently wait for dessert that evening. 

 

With the chocolate on top and the broken pretzel bits….aw guys, I have not steered you wrong.

Aw dear me, it was so good.  Like, should this be allowed, it’s so good. 

Time to query Mike on the first version.  The original ice cream recipe called for peanut butter, a portion of which I swirled on top, fyi.  “So what did you think there, babe, like the whole shebang?”

Here’s the first version with peanut butter all a-swirl in there. Not bad but there was room to improve.  I originally toasted the crumbs first, hence it so crumbly here.  Didn’t work, don’t do it.

“Uhhhh.  I was silent the entire time, was I not?  That means I was busy and liked it.”

While I thought it was very good, I knew it could be better. 

I love peanut butter but it was utterly unnecessary and overpowered the delicate pretzel essence.  In my opinion anyway.  Feel free to swirl it in there though.  And my first pie crust version was dry, crumbly, not holding together; I knew I hadn’t hit it yet.  

Back to the drawing board I went, reworking both recipes to where we are today:  heaven in a frozen pie dish. 

So yeah, the second version, mm hm I won that one for sure.  All I kept hearing from Mike were whispers, “ugh, sooo good, wow.  Mmpf.”  

The final slice demolished, he places his plate softly on the coffee table, slo-mo turns to me with a pouty lip. “It’s gone.  Good luck topping that.”

Uhhhh.  Uh oh. 

Hey, shout out to my badass warrior mom who had breast cancer surgery.  She’s handling this with grace, determination, positivity, dignity, and an excellently generous dose of humor.  She’s gonna be great and I’m proud of her!  F*ck Cancer.*  For reals.

Note:  This content originally appeared on Flaky Bakers.

*The food processors, pie dishes, fine mesh strainers, whisks, ice cream makers, and F*ck Cancer coloring books are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.  Further, a portion of the proceeds from the coloring book will be donated to support research dedicated to finding a cure for cancer.  Because f*ck cancer.