Gotcha Matcha Ice Cream Pie Recipe

Serves 6

As a child I had a dairy allergy and couldn’t eat ice cream. Mom prohibited my sisters from eating ice cream in front of me to prevent meltdowns. They hid behind the sofa to eat their ice cream, but I still caught them. In Taiwan, dairy farms were scarce and full-fat cream was an imported luxury, so kids there grew up eating shaved ice with toppings such as sweetened adzuki beans and lotus seeds. With this dessert, you can have your pie and eat it, too! Matcha tea is believed to have health benefits, such as disease-thwarting antioxidants and metabolism-boosting polyphenols.

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Ingredients

• ½ gallon vanilla ice cream
• 2 tablespoons matcha green tea powder
• ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 10-inch prepared graham cracker pie crust
• ¼ cup sliced almonds,for garnishing
• Whipped cream, for garnishing

Directions

Courtesy: Gibbs Smith Books

Thaw the ice cream until it is slightly soft, then scoop it out into a large mixing bowl. Add the matcha powder and almond extract. With a large metal spoon or sturdy wooden spoon, blend well into the ice cream until it is an even shade of matcha green, about 2 minutes of mixing. Don’t let the ice cream melt into a liquid.

Fill the entire pie crust with an even layer of the ice cream mixture. Put the pie in the freezer to firm up, about 1 hour. Slice and serve the ice cream pie garnished with almonds and whipped cream.