Easy Holiday (or Anytime!) Pies

Merry Christmas! 
This was baby boy's first.

    Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas! We just got back from visiting family in Quebec City, and are slowly coming out of holiday mode,... and recovering from time spent in the same house with five little boys all two and under! Talk about a crazy time. David's brother and sister in-law are very gracious and hospitable, to say the least! They housed all of us (David's parents and three young families) at their place, and put up with all the extra late-night crying added to their already busy household (they have twin boys who will be two soon).

    It was great to spend time with family, but it is so very nice to be home again... though we did spend the first part of our vacation at home. Theo, our 10 month-old, celebrated his first Christmas morning here at home, and then we spent the day with my family nearby.  I made two ice-cream pies for dessert at my parents':  Apple-Cinnamon and Pumpkin Gingerbread. The recipes were experiments of  my own creation, and happily they turned out really well (and were so easy to make!). 

Enjoying Some Pie by Christmas Tree Light

Apple Ice-cream Pie and Pumpkin Gingerbread Ice-cream Pie
(with whipping cream, of course)

Here are the recipes...

Apple Cinnamon Ice-Cream Pie

Ingredients:

-1 litre vanilla ice-cream

-1 cup of applesauce (unsweetened)

-1 tablespoon of cinnamon

-1 graham cracker crust, bought or homemade.

Directions:

1.) Let the icre-cream soften in a mixing bowl.

2.)Pour in the apple sauce and cinnamon. Beat on high speed until well mixed. 

3.) Spoon ice-cream mixture into the pie crust. Smooth out, cover, and freeze for at least 3 hours .

(This is seriously a 5-10 minute recipe!)

Pumpkin Gingerbread Ice Cream Pie:

Ingredients: 

-1- 2 cups worth of ginger bread cookie dough (using your favourite gingerbread recipe)

-1 litre of vanilla ice-cream

-1 cup of pumpkin pie filling

-1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Directions:

1.) Roll out the ginger bread dough and put into a pie-plate. Bake as directed by the ginger bread recipe. Let cool.

2.) Allow your ice cream to thaw in a mixing bowl.

3.) Pour in the pumpkin pie-filling and the cinnamon. Beat on high speed until well mixed.

4.) Pour ice-cream mixture into cooled crust. Spread evenly. Freeze for at least 3 hours. 

Serve with whipping cream.

  Enjoy!

     -J.L.