The One With the Eggnog and Caramel Ice Cream Pie

I was in a mood to experiment this year. I'm one of those people who likes eggnog is small doses around Christmas time, and I thought it might be fun to make a pie involving eggnog. My experiment turned out pretty well, I think.

And I call it an ice cream pie not because it uses ice cream, but because it's creamy and then you freeze it to make it kind of like ice cream. Also, if you let it stand out for too long, it will melt like ice cream. So don't do that.

Eggnog and Caramel Ice Cream Pie

Caramel

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

First of all, prepare all your ingredients and have them standing by, measured out and ready to use. In a heavy saucepan, combine the water and sugar over medium high heat. Allow the sugar and water to come to a boil, stirring very little, if at all. Allow the mixture to boil, undisturbed, for 8-10 minutes.Watch the sugar as it melts. When the mixture becomes an amber color, quickly stir in the butter, being careful not to be splattered by the boiling. Remove from heat and count to five, then carefully stir in the whipping cream until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool while you prepare your eggnog filling.

Eggnog Filling

• Graham cracker crust
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature*
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup thick eggnog (like Alpenrose)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 king-size Twix bar, chopped into small pieces

In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, cream together cream cheese and brown sugar. Add the eggnog and beat together on high for 3 minutes, until well combined. Add the vanilla. Stir in half of the Twix bar pieces. Pour into the prepared graham cracker crust.

Once your caramel has cooled, pour it over the top of the eggnog filling. Use a knife to swirl the caramel into the filling. You will be mixing the top half or so of the pie filling, not stirring together all the batter.

Sprinkle the remaining Twix bar pieces on top and place in freezer for 3-4 hours. Half an hour before serving, remove from freezer and place in refrigerator to soften slightly.

*Make sure you use a really good cream cheese, like Philadelphia. You don't want something that is going to chunk up when you try to add things to it.

And there you have it. Easy as pie, really.