Ice Cream Pizza

This is a sponsored post by Hudsonville, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

For me, summer is synonymous with family time. I have sweet memories of vacations to Michigan, long bike rides around Mackinac Island, and cooling off with a scoop of ice cream from Sadie's Ice Cream Parlor.

Sadie's serves Hudsonville Ice Cream, which is a family-owned business that operates out of Michigan. They have more than 50 flavors, and I love sampling the wide variety. Plus, it's always very rich and creamy.

As I was thinking of cool treats to make this summer, I knew I wanted to incorporate Hudsonville Ice Cream, and I thought it would be fun to create an ice cream pizza that actually looks like a pizza.

I found Hudsonville Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream at Meijer, and I knew the tangy ice cream with tart strawberry swirls would complement a brown sugar cookie crust perfectly.

When I was ready to make my ice cream pizza, the first thing I did was move the ice cream carton from the freezer to the refrigerator. You want the ice cream to soften in the refrigerator for about 30 to 60 minutes before using it.

Then I prepared the cookie dough and pressed it into my favorite deep dish pizza pan. Forewarning: the pan I use is 14 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches deep, so it makes a very large ice cream pizza. If you prefer, you can use a regular pizza pan instead or make a "personal pan pizza" using a cake pan. You'll probably have leftover dough, but you can just freeze it to use on another occasion.

Once I baked the cookie crust and let it cool, the ice cream was soft enough to spread on top. I used the entire 48-ounce carton, but you may use less if your cookie crust is smaller. Then I stuck the ice cream pizza in the freezer while I prepared a strawberry topping.

I love how the strawberry topping on top of the ice cream looks like pizza sauce. To play up the pizza theme even more, I used a box grater on a bar of white chocolate, and the end result really looked like parmesan cheese. I recommend grating the white chocolate while the strawberry topping is cooling because you need to sprinkle it on top right after you spread on the topping.

Now for the final touch—pepperoni! Of course, I didn't use actual pepperoni; I used red candy melts!

You can use this same ice cream pizza recipe with any cookie and ice cream flavor combination. For example, it might be fun to try this with a brownie crust and Hudsonville's Traverse City Cherry Fudge ice cream or Hudsonville's Creamery Blend Vanilla ice cream. Or try it with a peanut butter cookie crust and Hudsonville's Bananas Foster ice cream!

I think one of the best parts about this dessert is it's meant to be shared with others, so no matter what your summer plans entail, you'll surely create sweet moments and memories serving up slices of ice cream pizza.

Use this Scoop Locator tool to find which Hudsonville flavors are available at your local grocery stores, and click here for the Sweetest Summer Ever coupon to get a discount on any flavor.

Ice Cream Pizza
Ingredients

Pizza toppings

• 1 (48 ounce) container of Hudsonville Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream
• 2 (4 ounce) bars of white chocolate
• 1/4 cup red candy melts

For the brown sugar cookie crust

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 2  eggs
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the strawberry topping

• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and chopped
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Directions
For the brown sugar cookie crust

1. Remove ice cream from freezer and place in refrigerator between 30 to 60 minutes before cookie crust will be done
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray pizza pan with nonstick spray
3. In large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy
4. Mix in eggs and vanilla extract
5. In separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt
6. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture until just combined
7. Press dough into prepared deep dish pizza pan and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown
8. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes
9. Spread ice cream in even layer on top of cookie crust and place in freezer

For the strawberry topping

1. Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat 
2. Bring mixture to a simmer and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Mash the strawberries as you stir
3. Remove it from heat and allow it to cool
4. While it's cooling, grate the white chocolate using a fine box grater so it resembles parmesan cheese
5. Remove the ice cream pizza from the freezer and spread the strawberry topping on the ice cream
6. Immediately sprinkle the white chocolate on top and place the red candy melts on the pizza so it resembles pepperoni
7. Cover and store in freezer until you're ready to serve it