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.

Chocolate Cake Crumb Pie Crust

Yield

12 slices (1 pie crust)

Prep time

5 Min

Cook time

15 Min

Total time

20 Min

Chocolate cake crumbs.  As a pie crust.  The only pie crust you need from here on out.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (~260 g) chocolate cake chunks (give or take)
• 3 tablespoons (42 g) butter (melted)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (176° C).
2. Cut up chocolate cake (sans frosting) into chunks workable for a food processor and add them to the bowl. More than 2 cups is fine but don't go overboard.
3. Pulse the cake a few times until the chunks are mostly broken down into crumbs.
4. Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse a few times to thoroughly combine.
5. Lightly but purposefully press the crumbs into a pie dish and bake for about 15 minutes. The crust will not be crispy.
6. If you notice gaps in the pie crust after removing it from the oven, let it cool slightly then mush the crumbs back to fill. Let it cool completely before use.

Notes:

Recipe influenced by Scratch Bakery.

Calories

155.52

Fat (grams)

8.54

Sat. Fat (grams)

2.84

Carbs (grams)

19.97

Fiber (grams)

0.83

Net carbs

19.14

Sugar (grams)

15.11

Protein (grams)

1.33

Sodium (milligrams)

139.15

Cholesterol (grams)

10.86

Please see the "info" section for nutrition details.

pie crust

recipe

American

Created using The Recipes Generator

Salted Pretzel Ice Cream (Pie)

Yield

12 slices (about 1 quart of ice cream)

Prep time

2 Hour

Cook time

25 Min

Inactive time

4 Hour

Total time

6 H & 25 M

A creamy and smooth frozen ice cream treat celebrating pretzels.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (454 ml) milk (any is fine, closest to whole is best)
• 35 small salted pretzels
• 2 whole eggs (room temperature)
• 1 egg yolk (room temperature)
• 2/3 cup (132 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon (13 g) brown sugar
• 1 cup (227 ml) heavy cream (room temperature) broken pretzel bits (to top or stir in)
• 4 ounces chopped chocolate (to top or stir in)

Instructions

Ice Cream

1. Pour the milk into a small bowl and add the preztels, giving a quick stir and press to make sure they're coated in milk. Once they've soaked through, break the pretzels up. Or break them ahead of time. Let this mixture soak for about an hour and a half total. More is fine.
2. Pour the infused pretzel milk through a fine mesh strainer into a saucepan, making sure to squeeze out as much milk as possible from the pretzels. Turn the heat onto low to warm the milk.
3. Prepare an ice bath by setting a small bowl into a larger one and fill the larger bowl with ice. Add a little water to the large bowl (this makes the ice bath colder).
4. Once small bubbles start forming on the edges of the milk, combine the eggs, egg yolk, and sugars. Whisk briskly until the sugars are combined and the mixture turns a pale yellow. Don't do this ahead of time or the sugar will burn the eggs.
5. Temper the egg mixture with the warmed milk by adding a little milk and whisking constantly. Add more milk, whisk, more milk, until the egg mixture has warmed.
6. Add the egg mixture to the warmed milk in the saucepan, turn the heat to medium, and stir constantly until the mix turns thicker than a pudding. This happens quickly so stay close.
7. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the heavy cream, stirring to combine. Pour the mix through the fine mesh strainer into the awaiting small bowl in the ice bath.
8. Let cool a bit and cover the custard directly on the surface with plastic wrap. Let cool completely.
9. Once the mixture has cooled, add it to the ice cream machine, and follow the manufacturer's directions.

Pie

1. When the ice cream has finished churning. either scoop it into a freezer safe container, stirring in or adding to the top the chopped chocolate and broken pretzel bits or add all the ice cream to a pie crust.
2. Top the pie with the chopped chocolate and broken pretzel bits, cover and freeze for 4 hours before serving.

Notes:

Heavily heavily adapted from Cake over Steak.

Calories

220.15

Fat (grams)

12.05

Sat. Fat (grams)

7.22

Carbs (grams)

24.16

Fiber (grams)

0.48

Net carbs

23.68

Sugar (grams)

17.63

Protein (grams)

4.46

Sodium (milligrams)

105.53

Cholesterol (grams)

74.22

Nutritional information does not include the pie crust.

Please see the "info" section for nutrition details.

ice cream, pretzel

recipe

American

Created using The Recipes Generator

*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.