Cool Pumpkin Pie

When I was a child, all our close relatives who lived in eastern South Dakota gathered together for dinner on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Over the past 10 years, many of them, like me, have migrated to the Phoenix area, where we are once again getting together for three major holidays every year.  My two cousins, my sister and I are now rotating host duties, and this was my year for Thanksgiving.  I made the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and my cousins, my sister, my mother and my aunt brought the rest of the fixings.  Mom did dessert and brought one of my childhood favorites instead of pie.  I think she got the original recipe from the newspaper (the Sioux Falls Argus Leader) about 40 years ago.  This tastes like pumpkin ice cream in a graham cracker crust, and was a refreshing end to dinner on a warm Arizona Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Scrumptious

Filling
1 cup canned pumpkin (or use pumpkin pie filling and omit the spices below)
1 quart vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Crust (this part of the recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookbook)
1 3/4 cups crushed graham crackers (about 24 crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the crust ingredients.  Press into a 10 inch deep dish pie pan or an 8 x 8 square baking pan.  Bake 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool.  Mix together the filling ingredients.  Press into the crust and freeze.  Serve plain or with whipped cream.

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” ~ Jim Davis