Banana Split Ice Cream Pie

This dessert has all the components of a banana split sundae - in pie form! I found it awfully messy both to make and to eat, but heck, sundaes were never meant to be clean. For the ice cream, any non-dairy vanilla of your choice will do, whether made of soy milk, rice milk, or the latest on the market - coconut milk. I prefer the soy delicious vanilla frozen dessert from Turtle Mountain.

For the crust, you'll need chocolate wafer cookies. The original recipe suggested Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers, which are not vegan, so instead I used the dairy-free chocolate alphabet cookies from Newman's Own Organics: www.newmansownorganics.com/

Combine 1 and 1/4 cups of vegan chocolate cookie crumbs with 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter (such as Earth Balance), tossing with a fork until moist, then press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. I crushed the cookies in a zip-top bag with a rolling pin, but admit to a little impatience, so I had a few chunks of cookie left. I realized this probably wasn't the best idea if I wanted to have neat slices of pie at the end of the day, but I just decided to hope the crust would set while the pie was in the freezer!

Spread 1/2 cup chocolate sundae syrup over the crust - Ah!laska and Santa Cruz Organic both make vegan versions similar to Hershey's chocolate syrup. Top the chocolate with 4 cups sliced bananas (firm ones are better than ripe ones here). Spread 6 cups vegan vanilla 'ice cream' of your choice over the bananas - you'll need to let the 'ice cream' soften at room temperature so it is spreadable. Figure on about 30 minutes, but be careful it doesn't get so soft that it melts all the way!

Cover and freeze for 3 hours. Next you'll need an 18-ounce jar of strawberry sundae topping to spread evenly over the top. I ordered mine from Nature's Flavors, whose version is certified vegan. Be aware that the company can take up to two weeks to process orders, but it's so worth it... Almost everything on their website is vegan, and much of it is hard to find anywhere else: www.naturesflavors.com. They only sold their strawberry topping in a 16-ounce jar, but that was close enough for me.

Cover and freeze for an additional hour.

Let the pie stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes before cutting into 16 wedges. Serve each wedge with an additional 3/4 tsp. chocolate syrup, about 1 tablespoon chopped fresh pineapple, and 1 teaspoon chopped peanuts. Each serving is 320 calories.

Note: you can also make the pie up to 3 days ahead of time and just keep it in the freezer until ready to serve! This is great for vegan birthday parties.


Cost:
chocolate sundae syrup $3.50
vanilla frozen dessert $11.98
strawberry sundae topping $7.50
pineapple $3.90