Ice Cream Sundae Pie

Preparation time: 45 minutes plus freezing
Yield: 8 generous servings

Ingredients

Crust:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups crisp rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Rocky Road Sauce:
1 package (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows or 24 large marshmallows, cut in fourths

3 pints vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Maraschino cherries
Chocolate sprinkles, optional


Directions

For crust, line a 9-inch pie plate with a 14-inch round of aluminum foil, extending foil beyond rim of pan. In a heavy saucepan, melt 3/4 cup chocolate pieces and butter, stirring constantly. Add cereal and vanilla, tossing to coat cereal completely. Press into bottom and up sides of prepared pie plate; chill until firm, 30 minutes or freeze 15 minutes.

For Rocky Road Sauce, melt chocolate in heavy saucepan; stir in sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and salt. Cool to room temperature; add marshmallows.

To assemble, soften half of ice cream. Remove chocolate crust from pie plate by gently lifting foil edges. Carefully peel foil from crust; replace crust in pie plate. Spoon slightly softened ice cream into crust; smooth top and spread with half of Rocky Road Sauce. Place pie in freezer 30 minutes or longer to allow ice cream and sauce to firm. Repeat with remaining ice cream and sauce. Freeze at least 30 minutes longer.

Shortly before serving, whip cream until stiff peaks form; add sugar and vanilla. Pipe around edge of pie and mound in center. Top with maraschino cherries; garnish with chocolate sprinkles if desired. Makes 8 servings.

NOTE: I don't think I've ever had this topped with whipped cream. That might actually be too much. You can also make this in a 9x13 pan, which makes it a more reasonable thickness and easier to cut 12 or 16 servings instead of 8. Just to make the calculation easier for you, there are 4 pints in a half gallon, so you use not quite a half gallon in the recipe, but if you do it in a 9x13, you might get away with just using the whole container without making it too thick. If you're feeling daring, try mint chocolate chip or another flavor besides vanilla.

Original recipe by Julie Baker, published in the Deseret News.