I had a pretty wonderful weekend. It was rather busy, but a lot of wedding things that are finished, so I felt rather relaxed. I worked a lot and ran a lot and didn’t think about the wedding at all. I’m mad for March Madness, so while BGE and I were living it up watching basketball, I made these pies. I have hard time just sitting and watching sports, but I enjoy watching sports while doing other things.
Let me tell you about these little guys. First, they’re vegan and gluten free. Second, they have booze in them – hurray! And best of all, they’re double crusted, which delights me. I’m such a chocolate girl, but I have to say that the real star here is the bottom peanut butter crust. It’s salty and crunchy and I could eat just this crust and still be happy. In fact, after I made these, a made a few crusts so I could eat them bare.
I’ve always had an issue with banana-based ice cream, because I feel that no matter what you do to it, it still tastes like bananas. That’s not a problem in this dessert, because it’s supposed to taste like bananas. Slightly boozy bananas. And yes, I checked to make sure the rum I used was vegan.
The only hard part was, I made these on Saturday night, and it rained all day Sunday, so I couldn’t eat the pies because I wasn’t able to photograph them until today. I work weekends, so I usually have Mondays off (yes, that’s as good as it sounds). It was so nice and sunny for pictures, I only wish I could have done these pies justice. I’m still working on making food look as good as it tastes.
Life is good.
Ingredients
- 3 cups of corn Chex, divided
- 6 tbsp creamy peanut butter, divided
- salt
- 4 bananas
- 1/4 cup of rum
- 10 dates, chopped
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup salted peanuts
- 3/4 cup corn chex
- 5 oz. dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp peanut butter for drizzle, optional
Instructions
- Use a blender to crush 1 1/2 cups of the corn Chex.
- Melt 3 tbsp of the peanut butter.Combine peanut butter, crushed cereal, and a dash of salt. Mix it will with your hands and then press into a 4-inch biscuit cutter.
- Repeat steps 1 & 2 for second pie, using the remaining cereal and peanut butter. I guess you can do it all in one fell swoop, but I wanted to ensure that both crusts were the same thickness. As it was, they still came out a little uneven. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, you can use a large can with both ends cut off, or even make this into one larger 8-inch pie.
- Put crusts in the freezer to set.
- Put the dates in a microwave-safe dish and add water to cover. Microwave 1 - 2 minutes until soft, then drain the water.
- Combine bananas, rum, dates, vanilla, and cinnamon in a blender until smooth.
- Place mix in freezer till somewhat hardened, then swirl in the salted peanuts. For a smoother consistency, pour banana mixture into an ice cream maker and process. That's what I did, but I can understand not wanting to get your ice cream maker out or just not having one.
- Once ice cream reaches a consistency that is just a little harder than soft serve, spoon it onto the crusts. Place back in freezer.
- Melt the chocolate and dip the Chex in, one by one. Place on a parchment- or freezer covered tray. Let them sit for about 8-10 minutes until they are tacky but not completely hardened.
- Using your thumb and forefinger, carefully pile chocolate-covered Chex on top of ice cream and return to freezer.
- Once chocolate and ice cream are both set, drizzle with additional melted peanut butter.
Notes
For best taste and texture, let these warm up a little bit after you take them out of the freezer. What's five more minutes?
