No-Bake Vanilla Ice Cream Raspberry Sherbet Pie

Forgive me Blog Readers...it's been too long since my last post!  I was busy with my Father visiting from Buffalo and then I drove him back home for a visit with the rest of my family.  OF COURSE, I came down with some kind of awful flu while traveling, which I've been fighting for these last weeks.  Next thing I know, May has nearly passed me by.  Which brings me to now...ready to back into the swing of things with baking and blogging!

With summer nearly here, I'd wanted to try my hand at a Vanilla Ice Cream Raspberry Sherbet Pie that caught my eye.  I'm going to share the recipe with you, but I'm going to cut to the chase and share my opinion that this dessert is a lot of effort to put together and wasn't as delicious as I expected.  The flavor combination seemed like a winning one, but, for me, not so much.  It looks pretty, though ,doesn't it?!

Some of my issues may have stemmed from my lack of experience working with ice cream (that whole slightly melted vs. too melted thing).  I always seem to miss the mark of this exact science, leaving me with such a mess to clean up:

No-Bake Vanilla Ice Cream Raspberry Sherbet Pie
Recipe from "Spring Get Togethers" by Pillsbury

Crust

2 cups crushed chocolate cookies (wafer)

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

Filling

1 cup chocolate fudge sauce, slightly softened

1 quart vanilla ice cream, slightly softened

1 pint raspberry sherbet, slightly softened

12 oz. frozen raspberries

Topping

1 cup heavy cream/whipping cream

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Begin by crushing the wafer cookies.  I placed mine in a large plastic ziploc bag and used a rolling pin to crush them.  Mix in the sugar.  Put 1/4 cup of sugar/crumb mixture aside for garnish.  Add melted butter to remaining crumbs and stir until combined.  Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan.  Place in refrigerator to set for 15 minutes.

Remove crust from refrigerator and spread fudge sauce over the top.

Place spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream on the fudge and spread evenly.

Next, place spoonfuls of raspberry sherbet on top of the ice cream.  Using as spoon, gently spread the sherbet into the ice cream, combining to create swirls. 

Randomly place frozen raspberries on top, pressing them into the sherbet.

To make the whipped cream topping, pour heavy cream, sugar and vanilla into a chilled bowl.  Using chilled beaters, beat until stiff peaks form (about 3 minutes).  Spread whipped topping over the pie.  Garnish with reserved chocolate crumb mixture.  

Cover and freeze for at least six hours.  Before serving, let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

And here are my notes:

1.  I must have made the crust too thick since I used a pie dish instead of rectangular pan.  It was nearly impossible to cut through and did NOT produce nice, neat squares.

2.  I did not care for the sherbet taste.  If I make this again I will try raspberry ice cream for a deeper, raspberry taste that goes so nicely with chocolate.

3.  I didn't think the frozen raspberries added anything.  I would try using fresh raspberries that freeze with the ice cream in another attempt.

4.  The recipe actually used whipped topping instead of homemade whipped cream.  I made the substitution.  I didn't like the whipped cream on top -  can someone tell me if frozen whipped topping would actually be preferable to homemade when freezing??

I don't mean to be a downer about this dessert, you may love it!  If you give it a try, let me know how it worked out for you!!