Fresh Strawberry Sundae Ice Cream Pie

This Fresh Strawberry Sundae Ice Cream Pie takes the flavor of a strawberry sundae and makes it easy to serve a small crowd all at once. Great for graduation parties, Memorial day cookouts, or just because local strawberry season should be celebrated.

Ice cream pies are a fun way to make a special dessert and still keep the house cool in the summertime. A few shortcuts (I use store bought everything but the local berries, but you could make each component from scratch) and you've got a sweet treat to eat with very little effort.

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Strawberry season has arrived here in Ohio, and it's the perfect time to appreciate the sweetness of a locally grown berry. Kick off the summer with this pie--you could serve it for a Memorial day cookout, or a graduation celebration, or just because you deserve a treat.

If you're new to making ice cream pies, I've shared a photo-rich How To Make An Ice Cream Pie At Home tutorial. I put my years of experience making ice cream desserts at Baskin Robbins to good use, and shared all the tips and tricks I've picked up along the way. You can find that ice cream pie recipe here.

My son is graduating high school today and family has flown/driven in for the occasion, so there's a lot more of us around than usual to commemorate the event. When you're a military family and move often, you tend to be a pretty self-contained nuclear family unit at school functions because you haven't been part of the community for generations.   

It was nice to fill up a pew at baccalaureate last night, even though I didn't have any tissues in my purse. You need an emergency chocolate or dog biscuit? Need to floss, have a cup of decaf tea, or repair a hem? I've got you covered. I have catheters and ear plugs, but do I have a hankie when I need one? No.

We did not serve this pie for his graduation celebration--instead we thawed a cheesecake from the Band Fruit Fundraiser--but this would be an excellent, and easy to assemble, dessert for the next one.
I just can't think about my baby growing up right now.

For more recipes using strawberries, please see my Strawberry Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

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Note: this pie requires freezing in between the steps so that your strawberries are not sliding all over the place. It's great to make the evening before or the morning of the gathering, while you're doing other activities in the house, as each step doesn't take more than a few minutes to accomplish. You'll just need to be able to pop into the kitchen every hour or so to do a bit of prep, then leave it to freeze hard overnight or all day long.

Fresh Strawberry Sundae Ice Cream Pie (serves 6 to 8)

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped strawberries
• 1 Tablespoon caster sugar (or granulated sugar)
• 1 chocolate cookie pie crust (I used a 6 ounce Oreo pie crust that I bought myself)
• ¼ cup salted caramel topping
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream
• part of a can of whipped cream topping, or a cup or two of whipped cream & piping tools
• 2-3 Tablespoons of hot fudge topping

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, combine berries and sugar. Set aside so the berries can make a lovely syrup.
2. Pour salted caramel topping onto pie crust, making sure it's enough to spread to the edge of the base. Place in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and let it sit on the counter to soften for 5-15 minutes (depending on the freezer, the ice cream).
3. Spread softened ice cream evenly over chilled caramel sauce. Return to the freezer for 20 minutes to an hour.
4. Pour the berry-sugar mixture out of the bowl and spread across the chilled ice cream. Return to the freezer for 20 minutes to an hour.
5. Decorate the rim of the pie pan with whipped cream, and return to the freezer for an hour.
6. Drizzle fudge topping over top of pie. Return to the freezer to freeze firm (2-3 hours up to overnight).
7. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes and dip a knife in hot water, then dry it off, before cutting into the pie to serve.