Krispie Pumpkin Ice Cream Dessert

Who says ice cream is just for the summertime? I enjoy it year-round whether it be a homemade creation or from the grocery freezer. While attending Ohio State in Columbus, I became a lover of Graeter’s Ice Cream – particularly their peanut butter chocolate chip, blackberry chocolate chip, and Buckeye blitz ice creams. They also make festive specialty flavors such as pumpkin and the newly added salted caramel just in time for fall! Unfortunately I don’t live in Ohio anymore to stop by their stores first0hand but that didn’t stop them from sending me a supply of their ice cream! If you don’t live in Ohio, you can locate their ice cream by the pint at select grocery stores and online at graeters.com.

So what did I do with my ice cream treasures? Well first I sandwiched the salted caramel ice cream in between two chocolate chip cookies as an ice cream sandwich. Let me just say, the salted caramel ice cream is frozen gold! Sandwiching it between cookies was a fantastic and easy idea, and I bet it’d be great on brownies, and pies, but I have a feeling the rest will be devoured by spoons ;-). For the pumpkin I decided to get a little fancier and actually made something with it – a krispie dessert that resembles fried ice cream. Ever wanted to know what pumpkin pie would taste like in ice cream bar form? Well I think this might be it.

One year ago: Purple Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Guiltless Goat Cheese Alfredo

KRISPIE PUMPKIN ICE CREAM DESSERT

Serves 8

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 cup puffed rice cereal

1 pint Graeter’s pumpkin ice cream, slightly softened

Directions:

1. Line a loaf pan with overhanging wax paper, set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix softened butter, brown sugar and rice cereal together. Spread 1/2 of the cereal mixture evenly on the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Smash a layer of ice cream over the top of cereal layer until evenly distributed and as flat as possible.
4. Sprinkle remaining cereal mixture over the top of ice cream layer and slightly presto flatten (you can use the overhanging wax paper for this). Freeze until set up and ready to serve.
5. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and cut into squares. Serve immediately.

Source: Adapted from Chef in Training.

Disclosure: I was provided with samples of Graeter’s Ice Cream from The Company of Others. I was not compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.