Ice Cream Crunch Bars
Vanilla ice cream is sandwiched between a crispy buttery layer reminiscent of fried ice cream!
Servings
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups Rice Krispie cereal
- 1 cups chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cups shredded sweetened coconut
- ¾ cups brown sugar
- 2-3 shakes cinnamon optional
- 8 tablespoons real butter 1 stick, melted
- ½ gallon vanilla ice cream or one 'carton' since they keep shrinking, softened to the consistency of soft serve (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300℉. Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil or a parchment sling, extending a little over the edges of pan.
- Place Rice Krispies, pecans, coconut, and brown sugar in a 9x13 inch pan. Drizzle butter over mixture and combine well (a fork, or clean hands work well.) If desired, sprinkle in a few shakes of ground cinnamon and mix in. Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking time. Remove from oven when toasted and golden brown and let mixture cool completely.
- Remove half of crispy mixture and spread remaining half in an even layer on the bottom of pan. Gently spoon softened ice cream on top of mixture. Use a spoon and very gently spread mixture, being careful to not lift up crisp from bottom of pan. (see notes for a tip).
- Spread ice cream out evenly and then top with remaining crisp mixture. Gently press top crisp into ice cream with hands. Cover pan with plastic or foil and freeze until firm (preferably overnight).
- When ready to serve, use foil/parchment to completely remove ice cream from pan. Slice into squares and serve.
Notes
Softening the Ice Cream: I've found it helps to tear off ice cream container and place the whole frozen block into a large bowl. Use a sharp knife to cut it into several large chunks. At this point you can leave it at room temperature for a while, or very carefully microwave at a low heat to gently soften, stirring in between. The consistency you're going for is soft serve ice cream. It helps to stir it vigorously as it softens until it's nice and smooth.
Spreading the Ice Cream: If you're not careful, you will mix up your bottom layer of crisp. With your ice cream very soft and smooth, just spoon large spoonfuls as evenly as possible in your 9x13 pan. Avoid dumping the whole thing in there at once. Stand next to your sink with hot water running and use a large metal spoon dipped in the hot water to spread ice cream. The eat will help it glide over the ice cream smoothly and make the process much easier! Continue dipping and spreading until it's smooth. See blog post for photos of this process.
Alternative Method
I recently tested this recipe with my Two-Ingredient No-Churn Ice Cream recipe and it was a smashing success... so much so that I think I may even prefer it to thawing store-bought ice cream! All you need to do is whip two cups of heavy cream, and fold it into one can of sweetened condensed milk mixed with a little vanilla. Instead of putting that mixture in the freezer, spread it over the first layer of crunchy topping and then you can sprinkle the rest on the top and freeze! It comes out beautifully!Nutrition
Serving: 1square (1/16th of recipe), Calories: 456kcal, Carbohydrates: 45g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 29g, Saturated Fat: 17g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 67mg, Sodium: 169mg, Potassium: 332mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 36g, Vitamin A: 968IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 170mg, Iron: 2mg
Calories: 456kcal
Cost: $12
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