The Crumbly Crust That Makes Ice Cream Pie Easier To Slice

For those with a sweet tooth, it's hard to think of a more satisfying dessert than ice cream. Smooth, creamy, dense, and rich, this quintessential treat, which is often said to date back to imperial China (via Kitchen Stories), is just the ticket on a hot summer afternoon, when sitting down on the couch to watch a movie, as a late night pick-me-up eaten straight out of the carton, and basically any other occasion.

As delicious as ice cream is all on its own or scooped into various types of cones, one thing we all love about the treat is how beautifully it morphs into more intricate ice cream-based desserts. Who could turn down a chewy, creamy ice cream sandwich, a hot fudge sundae, or a multi-layered ice cream cake? One other ice cream dessert that's welcome in any ice box is ice cream pie, a frozen confection consisting of a crust filled with any number of ice cream flavors and usually topped with a layer of whipped cream and additional items such as sprinkles or nuts.

Ice cream pies can feature many different kinds of base crust, from standard pie dough to graham cracker to crushed chocolate wafer or sandwich cookies, notes MasterClass, with the last option being a fairly popular one. Aside from the fact that crumbled cookies go so well with so many flavors, their popularity in ice cream pie is partially due to a practical consideration: While a standard pie crust will turn very hard in the freezer, making the pie a pain to slice evenly, cookie crusts will stay crumbly and therefore much easier to cut.

MasterClass suggests using a simple, quickly baked graham cracker crust, while plenty of other recipes call for a no-bake crust made from melted butter and crushed Oreo cookies (via Wild Wild Whisk). Other common cookie crust choices include crushed shortbread cookies, crushed vanilla wafers, and crushed gingersnaps — you can really use any crispy cookie you like. Filled with creamy ice cream and topped with fluffy whipped cream, ice cream pie is a dessert everyone in the family will want (neatly cut) seconds of.