of Tie Dye Pie

It's been seriously hot and disgustingly humid in DC recently (probably a side effect of building the nation's capitol in a swamp...nice one L’Enfant). Luckily this weekend we've had unseasonably awesome weather and so in order to celebrate the sunshine and great temperatures I whipped up a Tie Dye Pie. It's an invention of mine that is as easy as it is delicious. The prep time is virtually nonexistent but the rewards speak for themselves. Who doesn't need a bit of ice creamy nostalgia every now and again? And so without further adieu I'll let you in on the deliciousness.

Today's Cast of Characters:

Yes...those extra M&M's were eaten.

I'm keeping it simple today with only three ingredients. Some vanilla ice cream from whichever brand you prefer, M&M's and of course the Oreo Crust. If you like chocolate this is the pie for you! My mom and one of my sisters are allergic to chocolate, yet another one of the bizarro allergy profiles floating around my family, so if I were making this for them I would use a graham cracker crust and Reese's Pieces. It would be a slightly different color spectrum but the effect would still work. 

What to do:

Please refrain from licking the screen.

First, allow the ice cream to soften until it becomes extra mushy. I like to think of the consistency as somewhere between a McFlurry and a soft double scoop at your favorite ice cream spot. This is important because if the ice cream is too hard you wont get the cool tie dye effect but if it is too soft you'll just have a yicky mess on your hands. Dump it into a large bowl. Try not sample too much of the stuff stuck inside the container while you are getting it out...a little bit is just fine though!

Chocolately Goodness? Check.

Now pour in the M&M's; as with everything in life, balance here is important. I don't like too many pieces of M&M's because sometimes they hurt my teeth. I'm sensitive, okay? But if you like to eat tons of them by all means go ahead and add more, just remember that it will take longer to stir in which will result in longer refreezing. Allow them to sit for just a second until you see they are starting to leach their color.

Starting to get a little trippy...

Stir the the M&M's until you get a pattern of colors in the ice cream that you feel comfortable with. This is your chance to unleash your inner child, or real child if you happen to have one handy. Remember it doesn't have to be perfect, half the fun is in the screw ups!

Flat? No. Pretty? Yes.

Once you've gone to town and unleashed your underused artistic side, spoon the mixture carefully into the pie crust. Even it out as well as you can without making the patterns in your pie merge into something resembling a melted push pop. The mix will be a bit mushier than before but that is totally fine because it's going back into the freezer.

At this point you have two options: you could either put CoolWhip on the top before putting into the freezer and create a nice even top; or you could be like me and rebel against frozen dessert topping. Either one is fine and either will taste delicious. Cover the pie with aluminum foil and place it back in the freezer.

Pretend I have a picture here with CoolWhip...sorry but it's just not how I roll!

After I dug in.

Allow the pie to freeze up for a few hours. The minimum would be 2 but I like my ice cream pie to be relatively hard when I cut it (makes for a prettier presentation) so I leave it in for 3+ hours. Finally bring it out of the freezer, cut it with a sharp knife and try to make it to the table before devouring the whole piece in a few seconds...don't judge I was hungry! I sometimes serve this up with a homemade fudge sauce, sometimes I even get a little crazy and put the fudge on an hour or so into the freezing process. The point is there are a million little tweaks that you can make to your tie dye pie, but the original is A-ok is my book.

Ingredients:

1 Carton of Vanilla Ice Cream

1 Cup of M&M's

1 Oreo Pie Crust

1 Container of defrosted CoolWhip (optional)

Directions:

1. Allow ice cream to soften. Dump into mixing bowl for better access to mix.

2. Pour in the M&M's and let it sit until color leaching becomes visible.

3. Stir in the M&M's until you reach the desired tie dye pattern.

4. Carefully spoon mixture into pie crust and even it out as best you can.

5. Freeze the pie up for a few hours until mixture is hardened usually takes 3+ hours.

6. Cut, Serve, and Enjoy your creation!