Photo: Gentl & Hyers

Worried about rolling out a traditional crust? This Black Forest pie is made with chocolate chip ice cream in a crust of crushed sugar cones, topped with sweetened cherries.
Serves 8

Ingredients

Note: You can also use plain vanilla ice cream and stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips. If you don't have fresh or frozen cherries, substitute canned cherries, drained well.

• 12 sugar ice cream cones, broken into pieces
• 5 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1 pint chocolate chip ice cream
• 1 pound fresh or thawed frozen cherries, stemmed and pitted (about 3 cups)
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. cornstarch

Directions

Active time: 40 minutes
Total time: 3 hours

Preheat oven to 350°. In a food processor, pulse ice cream cone pieces until finely ground. In a large bowl, combine crumbs with butter, and then press mixture firmly into the bottom and sides of a 9 1/2" pie pan. Bake 10 minutes; set aside to let cool.

Remove ice cream from freezer and set aside to let soften until spreadable, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer ice cream to pie pan, spreading it out in an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until solid, about 2 hours. (This can be done a day or two in advance.)

In a medium pot, bring cherries, sugar, and cornstarch to a simmer over medium heat. If using fresh cherries, add 1 to 2 Tbsp. water to prevent sticking. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator until cold.

When ready to serve, spoon cherry mixture on top of pie (if you're not finishing the whole pie at once, spoon cherries on individual pieces). Cut into wedges and serve.