Icebox Pies: 100 Scrumptious Recipes for No-Bake No-Fail Pies [Paperback]

In Icebox Pies, Lauren Chattman offers 100 recipes that will sweeten the stigma of the standard homemade no-bake pie. Thanks to Chattman, what used to seem only appropriate for the church bake sale has been refined with a chic twist. Though she offers the basic graham-cracker-crust recipe, she also includes an array of crusts that use lemon nut cookies, amaretti cookies, zwieback, and gingersnaps. Her featured fillings include the traditional lineup of no-bake pies (Chocolate Mousse Pie and Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Pie, among others), but the trendy and unusual recipes are what make this cookbook a lot of fun. Raspberry and Cocoa Mascarpone Cream Pie, Caramelized Pineapple and Cream Cheese Pie, and Cranberry and Butterscotch Chip Ice Cream Pie are just a few examples of delicious flavor combinations. The author also recommends toppings that range from Maple Walnut Sauce to Cranberry Dessert Sauce to Nougatine. (All filling recipes feature several suggestions for complementary crust choices and toppings.) With this book, Chattman provides a variety of no-bake pie options--guaranteed not to burn--that are interesting and elegant. --Teresa Simanton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Chattman's previous cookbooks Instant Gratification, Mom's Big Book of Baking, etc. have featured easy, no-fuss recipes, and her latest dessert book offers more of the same. Her refrigerator/freezer pies run the gamut from custard pies like classic banana cream to "fruit and cream combos" such as cherry and mascarpone pie to ice cream parlor treats like peanut butter cup pie. (There aren't quite as many pies as you might expect here, though, since 30 or so crust, sauce, and garnish recipes help make up the 100 the subtitle promises.) For most dessert collections.
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Back in the 1950s, every smart hostess had her own recipe for icebox pie to wow bridge-club ladies or dinner guests. Chattman has resurrected Icebox Pies, crumb crusts filled with ice creams or chilled mousses, and brought them into the twenty-first century. These pies make ideal summer desserts because they can be made well ahead and provide a pleasant, cooling end to dinner. Chattman encourages every cook to express individual creativity by varying the type of crust and combining different fillings into multiple layers of flavors. Who can resist Black Bottom Butterscotch Pie, layers of chocolate and butterscotch puddings in a graham-cracker and nut crust? These pies make good use of seasonal fruits and berries as well, blueberries and raspberries combining with enough jam to bind them atop an amaretto-cookie crust. Chattman's cookbook will undoubtedly convert a new generation of cooks to a retro dessert. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

“These pies are wonderful! Quick and easy. Fun. Yummy.”

(Maida Heatter, author of Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Dessertsand Maida Heatter’s Cakes )

“If you are looking for tempting, do-ahead desserts, this is the book for you! Lauren’s recipes are imaginative, easy to make and perfect for entertaining. These refreshing desserts are a welcome treat at any time of year or for any occasion.”

(Carole Walter, author of Great Pies & Tarts )

“Once again a mouthwatering collection of desserts from Lauren Chattman. All I can say is that I wish Lauren were my Mom.“

(Marie Simmons, author of The Good Egg and Fresh & Fast )

Do you consider pies complicated, oven-baked affairs? Before she discovered icebox pies, Lauren Chattman did too. Icebox pies are different: they're easy. You won't spend precious time rolling out pastry dough-the crusts are made from cookie crumbs and quickly crisped in the oven; the fillings are uncooked or prepared on the stovetop; the pies set in the refrigerator or freezer for a few hours before being served. And that's all there is to it. Icebox Pies is Chattman's interpretation of this simple dessert, which can be at turns classic or exotic. It begins with a chapter on crusts and ends with a chapter on toppings, and in between are all the delectable pies themselves: mousse, pudding, and custard pies; chocolate-based pies; fruit-and-cream pies; ice cream and sorbet pies; and more. They are perfect for summertime entertaining and will satisfy you, whether you are experienced or just beginning. Choice confronts you as the only difficulty, with such options as Black Bottom Butterscotch Pie, Rocky Road Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Caramelized Pineapple and Cream Cheese Pie, Banana Split Ice Cream Pie, and Fresh Raspberry and Blueberry Pie. Icebox Pies will present you with a whole new way to make dessert without a whole lot of work.

Lauren Chattman has a Ph.D. in English from Yale University and taught writing there for two years. She apprenticed under Francois Payard (a noted third-generation French pastry chef) at Restaurant Daniel in New York City. She went on to become a pastry chef in charge of her own kitchen and has written nine cookbooks, including The Baking Answer Book, Dessert University (with Roland Mesnier, former White House pastry chef), Mom’s Big Book of Cookies, and Icebox Cakes. She has appeared on QVC (selling more than 60,000 books), the Today Show, and many other national and local television shows. Her recipes have appeared in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Cook’s Illustrated, New York Times, Metropolitan Home, Vegetarian Times, Family Circle, and Redbook. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Sag Harbor, New York.