Half-baked Alaska Pie

No political blog is complete without a little satire.  Here at Pie and Policy, we aim to keep ours in good taste (unlike, say, this pun).

Pictured here is the Half-baked Alaska Pie as we suggest serving it: with a small glass of water between it and a white Russian.  

Ingredients:

Crust: Basic pastry crust

Carmel layer: Harry and David's Butterscotch Sauce

Ice Cream Layer: ~1/2 quart chocolate ice cream

Meringue Layer: 4 large egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Procedure:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 400F.  Roll out the pastry and get it into a standard 9" pie pan.  Line the pastry with aluminum foil and fill the dish with pinto beans (these are cheaper than pie weights, increasing your PMCIN PIE).  Place the pie shell into the oven and bake 10min.  Remove, wrap the foil around the beans and save for later use (pumpkin pies, which are coming soon, require pre-baked shells).  Let the half-baked pastry cool.

2) Once the shell is cool enough to handle, line it with your favorite carmel sauce.  Harry and David's works well, or you can melt caramels with some water to make your own.  Place this in the fridge for roughly 30min, and put the ice cream in the fridge to soften.

3) Use an ice cream spade or sturdy spoon to make an even layer of ice cream in the shell.  Place the partly filled shell back in the fridge for 2-3hrs (I skimped on this and it wasn't such a hot idea).  

4) Pull the eggs out of the fridge and make a fabulous dinner for 5-8 people.  After dinner, break out the drinks and dash off to the kitchen to make the meringue:

Turn on the broiler to low

Beat the egg whites until the hold soft peaks

Slowly beat in the sugar

Add the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla and beat a little more, the meringue should be big and fluffy.

5) Place the pie under the broiler, and check every minute or so to see when it starts to turn brown on top.  When the top is a sort of dirty blonde, pull it out and serve immediately.