An ambitious project

I got an SOS on Friday from one of my colleagues at boston.com, who was making dinner for her mother yesterday and needed a dessert. I sent over a favorite recipe for ice cream pie with a homemade fudge sauce (it's intense, just like the former Bailey's ice cream shop used to make).

Here is Courtney Hollands's dessert (above) and her report:

"I’m an average cook. Though I’ve been out of school and cooking for myself and others for almost five years, I haven’t quite managed the fine art of timing. As in, how much prep work should I actually do before I fire up the burners? Will I really be able to chop seven different kinds of vegetables in the time it takes for water to boil? This skill, second nature to experienced cooks, is especially problematic when tackling several courses and dessert at once.

"Still, on a whim, I asked my parents, Mark and Cheryl Hollands, and their fluffy labradoodle Baxter, my sister, Whitney, and my boyfriend, Kevin, to come for Mother’s Day dinner. The menu would be several things I've made before: cashew-crusted chicken, an arugula and manchego salad, and baked yams, with wine and bread.

"I knew I could handle the dinner portion of the performance. Only the dessert was foreign territory. Using a food processor to finely crush the chocolate wafers was a huge time saver and pressing the crust into a square pan was easy.

"The recipe suggests leaving the ice cream out for 10 minutes to soften it. I used Trader Joe’s brand vanilla and would recommend leaving the ice cream out even longer, as I had a tough time spreading it evenly in the crust. The fudge sauce was the most challenging part. I started the recipe when I put the chicken in. The sauce simmers for eight minutes. That turned out to be a lot of stirring to achieve the correct consistency.

"As soon as I added the vanilla, I covered the pan, turned off the heat, and joined my family for dinner, crossing my fingers that I could revive the sauce just before serving. Thankfully, I was able to reheat it slowly (averting a kitchen calamity). Here is the fudge sauce over the ice cream cake.

"There were rave reviews all around, especially from Whitney and Kevin, each of whom had seconds (here is Kevin with round two):

"My Dad ate the fudge sauce straight from the pan. Thank goodness for napkins! My Mom pronounced it "a keeper." I can cook and bake!"

Ice cream pie
Makes 1 large pie

PIE
1 package (8 ounces) thin chocolate wafers
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 quart vanilla ice cream

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Have on hand a deep 9-inch pie pan.
2. In a food processor, pulse the wafers until they form crumbs. Transfer them to a bowl and stir in the butter. With the back of a spoon, press the mixture into the pie pan, making the top edge a little thicker than the botton.
3. Line the crumb mixture with foil, pressing against the crust. Bake the crust for 10 minutes or until it is set. Remove from the oven, leave the foil in place until the crust is completely cool.
4. Let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or until it is soft but not beginning to melt. Spread it in the crust, smooth the top, and freeze the pie for 1 hour or until the ice cream is solid again.

SAUCE
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 box (1 pound) confectioners' sugar
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove from the heat. Stir in 1/2 cup of the sugar, then a little of the milk, and continue alternating until they are all added.
2. Set the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until small bubbles appear at the sides of the pan. Let the mixture bubble steadily, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes.
3. Stir in the vanilla. The sauce may look curdled but it will become smooth later. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is no longer burning hot and has thickened slightly.
Note: Reheat leftover sauce over low heat, stirring constantly. From "The Way We Cook"