Howdy, Jigglers! Last weekend I decided I needed a fruit salad-type gelatin dish, so I set about looking around the pantry to figure out what components I already had. I randomly decided to check the freezer when I descried a long-forgotten pie crust underneath some frozen okra and beets. Thankfully, I don't think there are any recipes in JOJ that include beets or okra, so I pulled out the pie crust and determined to find a recipe to fill it, which brought me to the Frosty Strawberry Pie. It's got real fruit to make it somewhat virtuous, but then it's also got ice cream to make it extra rich. Though this seemed extremely similar to the Pastel Pie, I gave it a shot.
My theory on vintage Jell-O recipes has always been that the flavoring was significantly less intense back in the mid-20th century compared to its sweetness and intensity nowadays. Because of this, I reckoned that strawberry Jell-O plus strawberries PLUS strawberry ice cream would just be too much and went with vanilla instead. Trust me, it's plenty strawberry-y that way.
The method of this recipe is fairly straightforward: you dissolve the gelatin in boiling water, dissolve the ice cream into that mixture, let that get thick, then fold in the strawberries and pour everything into the (BTW already baked and cooled) pie crust and let set. Adding in the ice cream is a faux quick-set method because it helps the gelatin cool down faster, though in my case it certainly took longer than 25 minutes to thicken. Maybe my ice cream wasn't dense or cold enough or something. Also of note: I didn't put any kind of whipped cream topping on my pie, but it would have been a nice addition.
The pie turned out Pepto pink and very jiggly, as one would hope. I ended up with the pie slightly overfilled and also a single-serving mold full of the mixture, so if you make this I would recommend buying or making a deep-dish crust to contain all the jiggly goodness. The flavor is pretty nice. I wouldn't call it creamy, but the addition of ice cream makes it extra sweet, though the sweet-tart berries (I went for fresh strawberries, by the way) help balance it out. Again, whipped cream would make it more like a cream pie. On the first day, the crust stays crispy, but after that it softens and gets soggy very quickly. The leftovers actually reminded me of strawberry shortcake, which I love, so it didn't bother me so much, but if I were serving this to family or friends, I would serve it on the same day I made it.
The meringue variation would certainly be a good way to give a touch of sophistication to this pie, but what really interests me is the open-ended Other Frosty Pies option. An obvious one would be an orange flavor with orange Jell-O, melted creamsicles, and mandarin orange slices, but you could do a lot of mixing and matching here. Lemon Jell-O with raspberries and vanilla ice cream. Cherry Jell-O with cherries and chocolate ice cream. This wouldn't have been available in 1964, but peach Jell-O and peach slices with vanilla ice cream, or maybe with a pecan praline-type ice cream (then imagine that with some bourbon-spiked whipped cream on top).
I'm having trouble thinking of a Jell-O flavor that would gel (pun absolutely intended) with ice cream flavors like peanut butter, cookies and cream, salted caramel, and the like, but you could potentially use unflavored gelatin and then only have to worry about the kind of fruit to use. Some of that could come out pretty gross, though, so experiment at your own risk.
This specific Frosty Pie recipe, however, is a perfectly normal flavor combination that works out pretty well in pie form. It's not my favorite recipe ever, but it's a good springtime big-brunch-with-family-and-friends kind of dessert. I might like it even better with lemon Jell-O instead of strawberry to make a strawberry-lemon pie, but you combine the fruit and the flavor that you love, and you won't be disappointed. So thanks, General Foods, for a decent fruity pie.
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