Save Room for Pie

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms! We celebrated Mother’s Day by running in our first ever half-marathon. Craig and I woke up at 5:00 am to drive to Ft. Worth for the run. Craig could have finished with a much faster time, but he stayed with me the whole way. What a guy! We made a special Mother’s Day dinner at our house with steaks and sides. Of course we had to have a special dessert, so I made the pie we told you to save room for last week.

I love to make desserts, and as a matter of fact I think that was one of the main reasons Craig asked me to marry him. One of my favorite summertime desserts is a recipe that I found in a cookbook that was given to us as a wedding gift. The recipe is from a cookbook named, For Goodness Taste by the Junior League of Rochester and this cookbook has some of the best recipes ever! This pie recipe is so easy. It is a crowd pleaser with friends and family.

Do you remember the criteria I listed last week for our recipes? Easy. Tasty. Fresh. Well this recipe doesn’t really have super fresh ingredients, but it is definitely easy and tasty. The most difficult part of this recipe for me is that you do need to plan ahead. You cannot decide to serve this for dessert for guests that are arriving in 30 minutes. The ingredients that you need are peanut butter, light corn syrup, rice crispy cereal, 2 pints of vanilla ice cream, sugar, cocoa, cream, margarine, vanilla and Café Borghetti Espresso Liqueur.

You probably are not familiar with the last ingredient, so let us tell you a little bit about it. Café Borghetti is an Italian coffee liquor that is made from real espresso coffee that is a blend of Arabica and Robusta coffee beans. When you unscrew the lid, the aroma makes you feel like you are in a little Italian coffee house in the middle of Milan. You can find Café Borghetti Espresso Liqueur at some liquor stores like Goody Goody or Total Wine. We have other great recipes that use Café Borghetti that we will share with you in future posts.

First, get the ice cream out of the freezer while you are making the crust. It is easier to work with if it is softened. Since we live in Texas, I always use Blue Bell Natural Vanilla Bean. (Yes, it was devastating to us Texans when Blue Bell took a hiatus from production last year. We are glad Blue Bell is back!) Next you will make the crust. Mix ½ cup creamy peanut butter, ½ cup light corn syrup, and 2 ¼ cups of rice crispies together.

Place the mixture in a pie pan sprayed with cooking spray. I use a sheet of wax paper to help me form the crust into the pan.

Spoon a layer of ice cream into the crust, and even it out. Then place into the freezer.

Next, you will make the fudge sauce. In a sauce pan heat the sugar, cocoa, cream and margarine. Stir constantly until boiling. Add in 1 oz. of Café Borghetti and leave on heat for about 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Cool the fudge sauce. Pour half of the sauce over the ice cream. Place back in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Soften remaining ice cream and spread over frozen pie. Drizzle with remaining sauce. Freeze until firm.

Remove from freezer approximately 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy! There are several variations you can do with this recipe. If you don’t like the coffee flavor of Café Borghetti, you can leave it out. You can add mini chocolate chips to the crust, or use a different flavor of ice cream.

Café Borghetti PBIF (Peanut Butter Ice Cream Fudge) Pie

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup light corn syrup

2 ¼ cups rice crispies

2 pints vanilla ice cream

¾ cup of sugar

½ cup cocoa

½ cup cream

4 tablespoons of margarine or butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 ounce Caffe’ Borghetti Espresso Liqueur

Mix peanut butter and corn syrup until blended. Add rice crispies and stir until coated.

Press into bottom and sides of 9-inch pie pan.

Top with 1 pint ice cream which has been softened slightly. Freeze until firm.

In saucepan, heat sugar, cocoa, cream and margarine, stirring constantly until boiling. Add Café Borghetti and remain on heat for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool.

Pour half of sauce over ice cream. Freeze for about 20 minutes.

Soften remaining ice cream and spread over frozen pie. Drizzle with remaining sauce. Freeze until firm, approximately 3 hours.

Remove from freezer about 10 minutes prior to serving.

We hope you enjoyed the PBIF Pie as much as our family does. If you make it, we would love to hear about it – especially if you added your own variation.